Coming Back
by Rachel Wilder
Summary: What happened after Dr. Rand came to find Rayna in the waiting room? A post season 3 finale story.
1. Chapter 1

Rayna stared at the silent TV in front of her, Maddie's hand gripping hers. She looked up at the clock hanging on the wall. Six hours. He'd been in there for six hours.

She heard the door open behind her and turned.

"Rayna, might I talk to you privately?" Dr. Rand asked from the door.

She dropped Maddie's hand and stood up to follow him into the hallway. She stood looking at him, the walls beginning to close in on her.

"I have some bad news," he began.

"Mom?"

She turned to see Maddie standing behind her, her face white.

"Mom!"

She looked past Maddie at Daphne who was still on the couch, but now pointing at the television where she could see Teddy...Teddy walking away from the federal courthouse in handcuffs.

She turned back to Dr. Rand. "What? What happened?"

He looked at her and then at the girls. "Where is Scarlett?"

Rayna shook her head. "No, what happened? Is it Deacon? Beverly?"

He reached over and took her hand. "We don't have to expect the worst."

She snatched her hand back from him as Maddie came up and put her arms around Rayna. "Just say it. What happened?"

"The surgery went well, we were able to remove the lobe of Beverly's liver and transplant it in Deacon. The organ looks really good."

"But?" Rayna asked.

"But there was a complication, with Deacon, after the transplant."

"What kind of complication?" Maddie asked as she moved even closer to her mom.

"I really think I should talk to you alone," Caleb replied.

Rayna shook her head. "No, we both wanted to be honest with the girls. What happened? Is he dead?"

"No, but we did have to resuscitate him on the table," the doctor answered.

"Resuscitate?" Rayna asked. "His heart stopped?"

The doctor nodded. "But it restarted and we're doing everything we can, but we'll have to just wait and see."

"Wait and see what?" Maddie asked.

Caleb looked over at Deacon's daughter.

"We have to wait and see...we'll know more when he wakes up," Caleb responded.

Rayna pulled Maddie close to her, then turned to look back at Daphne. She had not come out of the waiting room, but stayed on the couch, her eyes fixed on the news report. The TV volume wasn't blaring, but Rayna could hear Teddy's name being repeated along with others like "extortion, bribery, and solicitation."

Caleb put his arm on her shoulder. "He's still in recovery. We'll get him moved upstairs in the next hour or so into the ICU unit. I'll come back when you can come see him."

She stood there as the doctor began walking down the hallway.

"Doctor Rand," she called out after him. He stopped and turned back toward her. "And what about Beverly?"

He smiled. "She did great. She's awake and in her room on the fifth floor."

Rayna nodded. Of course she was.

"Mom?"

She turned to see Maddie standing there, her face crestfallen. Rayna took her by the hand and led her back into the waiting room where Daphne sat, her eyes transfixed on the screen listening as the US Attorney held a press conference in front of the courthouse.

Damn you, Deacon. Damn you, Teddy.

She pulled the girls close again, hoping that somehow, someway, things would be okay.

* * *

Scarlett pulled back from Gunnar's kiss as her phone vibrated. She pulled it out to look at the screen.

"It's a text from Caleb. My momma's back in her room," she said, her facing turning pink with the blush from what they had just done.

Gunnar set his guitar aside. "You want me to go down with you? See how she's doing?"

Scarlett took in a breath. She knew that Caleb wouldn't understand if she showed up with Gunnar, but at the same time, she hadn't been able to truly explain to her boyfriend just how complicated that mother/daughter relationship was. That was the thing with Gunnar-more often than not, he knew. He knew everything.

She raised her hand up and touched her lips where Gunnar's had just been pressed to hers.

"I'm not sorry," he said as he trailed his fingers along the edge of her face.

"I should go," she replied. She stood up when the door opened and Caleb walked out.

"I was looking for you," he said. "Did you get my text?"

"I was just headin' down there," Scarlett answered. "Is she askin' for me?"

Caleb looked from Scarlett to Gunnar and back to her and nodded. "She is. And I need to talk to you about something."

Scarlett pushed her notebook into her bag and turned to him. "Need to tell me what?" She looked from Caleb back to Gunnar. Gunnar set down his guitar and walked up next to her. "You can talk in front of Gunnar-he's practically family, after all.

"I need to talk to you about Deacon," he answered.

* * *

TBC

 _Just a teaser to set the scene and transition us out of the season finale. This isn't any kind of a prediction of what might happen next season, but just a kernel of an idea I had after watching. Hope you enjoy._


	2. Chapter 2

Rayna stood pacing in front of the elevator when the doors opened and Bucky and Luke stepped out.

Bucky went to her immediately, taking her in his arms. "Ray, I'm so sorry about this."

She held his embrace, then stepped back, struggling to let a smile across her face. "We don't know anything yet, it could all be fine." She nodded. "He's gonna be fine. He has to be, Buck." She broke down in tears briefly, then turned to the man standing next to Bucky.

"I'm so sorry, Luke-I just wasn't sure who to call. I…" Her voice trailed off.

Luke just shook his head. "I'm glad you called, Rayna. I'm real sorry about this, about Teddy, about all of it."

"I just need the girls to be somewhere for a little bit with someone who they trust and I do too and honestly, you were the first person I thought of. I just couldn't leave them with a nanny when all of this is going on. My sister will be here in the morning, but if they could just go with you for a little bit, until I can figure out what's going on here, what's going on with their dad…"

Luke reached out and touched her shoulder. "I'll get 'em back to the ranch, feed them something and see if we can't settle 'em down for the night. You call me and let me know as soon as you hear somethin'."

She walked down to the waiting room with Luke and Bucky to talk to the girls.

"I don't want to go," Maddie protested. "I want to stay and see Dad."

"I know, hon," Rayna responded. "And you will get to see your dad, but please, go home with Luke for a little while, get something to eat and a little sleep. I promise I'll either come get you or bring you back up here as soon as we know anything."

"What about my dad?" Daphne asked, her face falling.

Rayna drew her close. "I'm sorry, baby. Bucky is going to go find out what's going on and see if your dad needs anything. Aunt Tandy will be here in the morning. We'll find out what's going on."

"Is it going to be like Paw Paw?" Daphne asked, her face pressed against Rayna's body.

Rayna smoothed her hand down Daphne's hair. "I don't know, baby. We'll find out." She pulled back from Daphne and leaned down in front of her daughter. "You'll be with Luke and Maddie and Colt and I'll come for you as soon as I can."

She pulled both girls to her again, looking over Maddie's shoulder at Luke, mouthing "thanks" as she said goodbye to the girls.

She watched as the girls headed out with Luke, then turned to her manager. "So, what did you find out about Teddy?"

Bucky shook his head. "I'm not sure of all the details, but embezzlement, extortion, something about solicitation."

Rayna sank down on the couch. "I'd love to just let him go stew in this mess he's made for himself, but you saw those girls-they're devastated."

"Ray." Bucky reached out to touch her arm. "What are they saying about Deacon?"

Rayna looked over at her manager, her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Buck-"

He stepped moved over next to her and took her in his arms. "It's okay, just let go."

And for the first time since Caleb Rand came to the door to tell her something was wrong, she did.

* * *

Rayna and Scarlett stood in the hall outside Deacon's room in the ICU.

"You can go in for a couple of minutes, but then we need to just let him rest," Caleb explained.

"So, what are you doing?" Rayna asked. "What are we expecting?"

"We're using hypothermic therapy," the doctor began. "We're keeping his body cool to preserve neurologic function."

"But I thought you said it was his heart?" Scarlett asked as she pressed her hand against the large window looking into Deacon's room. Through the glass they could see him in his bed, a ventilator pressing oxygen through the mouthpiece into his throat, his body cover with cooling blankets. There were monitors and wires coming from every direction.

"It was. But once the heart is started again, we worry about the possible injury to the brain," Caleb explained.

"How worried should we be?" Rayna asked as she turned her face from the window to the doctor.

He didn't respond.

"Just tell us," Scarlett said as she also turned her gaze away from Deacon.

"It's a little hard for us to know since he was under anesthesia when the arrest happened," Caleb began. "This therapy is a precaution in some ways. But in patients who remain comatose after a cardiac arrest, only about 20% have a good neurological outcome."

"How long will you keep him like this?" Rayna asked as she turned back to watch Deacon.

"The protocol calls to begin the rewarming process after 24 hours," Caleb replied.

She turned back to the doctor again. "And the liver?"

"Looks really good so far," Caleb responded. "So, do you want to go in for a minute?"

Both women nodded. He pushed the door open and held it as they walked through.

Rayna walked up next to the bed and put her hand on his cheek. "He's warmer than I expected," she commented.

Scarlett stood next to the bed, watching as the ventilator pushed another breath into Deacon's body. "He's so still."

"I'll give you a few minutes," Caleb replied. "But please, only stay about ten minutes."

Rayna nodded.

Scarlett stood watching Deacon, then turned as Caleb opened the door. "Have you told my momma yet?"

He shook his head. "I thought we should give her a night to rest, but to be honest, she's asking for you."

Scarlett nodded, then leaned in and kissed Deacon's cheek. "I'll be back, Uncle Deacon." She turned back to the door. "Let's just go tell her. She needs to know anyway."

* * *

Scarlett stood outside her mom's hospital room, gathering up her strength to go in and talk to her mom.

"Scarlett?"

She turned at the sound of Gunnar's voice.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay before I left," he said as he walked up to her. "Is...is Caleb here with you?"

Scarlett shook her head. "No, he was called away to consult with another one of the doctors about Deacon."

"You talk to your mom yet?" he asked.

She shook her head again. "No, and I know I should just go in there and do it, but I just have no idea how she's going to react."

"You want me to go with you?" Gunnar offered. He held out his hand to her.

Scarlett slipped her hand into his. "Thanks, Gunnar."

* * *

Rayna pulled a chair up next to Deacon's bed and slid her hands in past the bedrail to take his hand in hers.

"Oh, babe," she said as she leaned her head forward, pulling herself as close to him as the bed and medical equipment would allow. "You're strong and I love you. And you promised me that you wouldn't make me a widow, so I need you to dig down in there and come back to me."

She sat for a few more minutes, Deacon's chest going up and down as the ventilator breathed for him, the monitors beeping regularly as his heart now functioned normally. But he was so quiet, so still and so cold.

She lifted his hand up, the clip on his finger measuring his oxygen, and kissed it.

"You rest. I'll be back. Those dreams of yours are not coming true. It's my turn-my dreams are coming true now, Deacon Claybourne."

She stood up and crossed to the door. Bucky stood in the hallway. She closed the door behind her and turned to her manager.

"Ray, I'm sorry-how much of this stuff do you want to hear?" Bucky started.

Rayna walked past him down the hall to a spot where two chairs were sitting against the wall. "Let's just sit for a minute and you tell me what you know."

He joined her and first took her hands in his. "Rayna, Deacon is a strong man. Just know that. He's been through a lot and he's gonna get through this."

Rayna nodded. "So, what did you find out about Teddy?"

Bucky sighed. "Well, there isn't too much out there except that he was arrested, but according to my source at the courthouse, they had an indictment against him for a bunch of charges. Did you know about any of this?"

Rayna shrugged. "I knew about the hooker-that was what was behind that whole fiasco with Maddie and Edgehill, but this other stuff, extortion and embezzlement, I had no idea. Except, you know, it isn't the first time. Last time my daddy got him out of all of it."

"Tandy will be here in the morning, said she can stay as long as you need her. I talked to Luke a few minutes ago and the kids are all settled in for the night. They're pretty upset, but everything's handled for the moment."

Rayna dropped her head down into her hands, then looked over at Bucky. "Anything else?"

"Just some stuff with Juliette, but nothing that you need to worry about tonight," Bucky answered.

Rayna let out a short laugh. "I don't even want to know, Bucky. Unless my house is on fire or my kids are in danger, I don't think I want to know anything else and honestly, I'm not even sure I'd care about the house as long as the kids weren't in it."

"Can I take you home, let you get some sleep?" Bucky offered.

Rayna shook her head. "No, I can't leave him while he's here like this. I'll find some place where I can close my eyes."

Bucky stood up. "Let me know if you need anything. Anything at all."

Rayna nodded. "Thanks, Buck. I don't know what I'd do without you."

* * *

Luke tapped on the door to the guest room.

"Come in," Maddie said.

He walked in. "You girls have everything you need?" he asked as he stepped next to the bed where Maddie and Daphne sat with the covers pulled up.

"Yeah, we're okay," Maddie replied. "Did my mom call?"

Luke shook his head. "No, but I just talked to Bucky and he said that she was in with Deacon and that everything was the same as when we left the hospital."

"I want to see him," Maddie said, her voice breaking.

Luke sat down on the end of the bed. "I'll take you up there, first thing in the morning."

"What about my dad?" Daphne asked, her voice choked with tears.

Luke patted the covers over her leg. "I'm not sure, honey, but I've got my guys finding out what's going on. I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything."

Daphne nodded, then began to cry again. Maddie took her into her arms to comfort her.

"Your Aunt Tandy will be here in the morning," Luke stated as he stood up.

"Thanks for letting us come here," Maddie said as he turned to leave the room.

"Of course," Luke replied. "We may not have become family, but that doesn't mean we can't all be friends."

* * *

Scarlett walked into her mother's hospital room with Gunnar following behind her. Beverly was in the bed with an IV running into her arm, a clip on her finger measuring her oxygen and a small cannula in her nose. It was so different from all the tubes and monitors and machines in Deacon's room.

"Momma?" she said quietly.

Beverly looked over at her and smiled. "How'd I do?"

Scarlett worked a smile onto her face. "You did great, Momma. They said the liver was perfect. Thank you."

"How's Deacon?" Beverly asked as she tried to shift in her bed, then groaned a bit.

"You need help, Ms. O'Connor?" Gunnar asked as he stepped forward.

"I'm okay," she responded. "How'd my brother do? He wake up yet?"

Scarlett reached over and took her mom's hand.

"What's wrong with Deacon?" Beverly asked. "What aren't you telling me?"

Scarlett took a deep breath. "There was some trouble after the transplant. His heart stopped."

"Is he dead?" Beverly asked, her face growing white.

"No, no, he isn't dead," Scarlett responded quickly. "But they're keeping him asleep, with this therapy to keep his body cold."

Beverly shifted in her bed, raising the head of the bed slightly. "I want to see him. Where is the button to call that nurse?"

Gunnar came over to her. "We can help you do that, but let's wait until morning."

Beverly started to cry. "But I want to see him. I want to see my brother."

Scarlett took her in her arms. "We'll see him tomorrow, Momma."

Beverly began to cry harder, then began to gasp.

"I'll get a nurse," Gunnar said as he headed for the door.

Scarlett held her mother until the nurse, with Caleb following behind came into the room. The nurse injected a medication into Beverly's IV line.

"What's that for?" Scarlett asked as her mother's sobs quieted.

"It's gonna help her sleep," Caleb explained. "So, you told her?"

Scarlett nodded. As Caleb pulled her into his arms, Gunnar backed out of room.

"Can I take you home?" Caleb asked. "I have to come back, but there's no reason you need to stay here tonight."

Scarlett shook her head. "No, I want to stay here, with my mom, and make sure everything's okay."

* * *

As Gunnar headed back down to his car, he pulled his phone out to find two missed calls and a voicemail from Kiley. He listened to the message, then called her back.

"Hey, I'm really sorry and please let Micah know I will be down to see him soon, but I think I had better stay in town. Will you go without me?"

He listened as Kiley agreed, then ended the call. It was stupid, staying up here just in case Scarlett needed him, but he knew there was no way he could leave her now with all of this going on in her life.

* * *

Teddy looked at the bars on the holding cell. His lawyer said they would arraign him in the morning and set bail. Which he would most likely be able to make-he had inherited money from Peggy's estate.

But instead of bail, he found himself looking at the bedsheet on the bed in the corner, the bag in the trashcan, anything that he could use…

He shook his head. He wouldn't do anything without talking to his girls. He wouldn't.

His dad had done it without talking to anyone and that had haunted Teddy for years, made him swear up and down that he'd never repeat any of his father's sins.

Except he had. Almost every single one of them.

 _TBC_


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for all of the lovely reviews. Sorry it's taken me a bit longer to write this chapter, but I promise to be updating regularly. The story will include a number of flashbacks, which I'll indicate in _italics_ but I think it should all make good sense - Rachel**

* * *

 _Rayna stood at the door of the Bluebird, watching Deacon on stage singing with his sister. Watty had introduced them the week before, telling her that Deacon was one of the best guitar players he'd seen in years and a good songwriter to boot. He'd acted pretty indifferent to her, but then as she was leaving that night after her set, he'd told her he was playing a show with his sister the next Thursday if she wanted to drop by._

 _His sister could sing and they sounded good together. Rayna found herself wondering what their story was. She stood there listening, her fake ID clutched in her hands, hoping that Tandy would be willing to cover for her one more time. If her daddy knew where she was...well, she wasn't even going to entertain that thought._

 _Deacon and Beverly finished their set and he walked over to her, his guitar in one hand, a longneck bottle of beer in the other._

" _You came," he said, his voice low._

 _She nodded, suddenly feeling shy and wondering how old he was. "Y'all sounded great up there. Your sister has a gorgeous voice."_

" _Thanks," Deacon replied. "When's your next gig?"_

 _Rayna shrugged. She wasn't sure. Watty was encouraging her to play other shows, but it was getting harder and harder to keep sneaking out of the house. Eventually her daddy was going to expect to see her perform in the play she kept saying she was practicing for or ask to meet the boy she said she was dating._

" _I'll be lookin' forward to hearin' you sing again," Deacon responded, taking another drag off his beer. "Hey, you want one?" he asked, gesturing to his rapidly emptying bottle._

 _She nodded, hoping he wouldn't ask her what kind-she'd wasn't much of a drinker, other than the small glasses of wine her daddy would serve at dinner parties he occasionally held._

" _Deacon?"_

 _They both looked up to see his sister standing there._

" _We should get going," she said as she stood there holding his guitar case and her purse._

" _Can you hold on a few more minutes, Bev?" he asked, but she shook her head._

" _No, I'd really like to go now," she replied._

 _Deacon shot Rayna an apologetic look. "So, I'll be looking for your name out there and hoping to hear you sing again, real soon."_

 _Rayna nodded. "I should get going, too."_

 _She walked to the door with them. Deacon held the door first for Beverly and then for Rayna._

" _You here in the lot?" he asked as he looked at the cars parked outside the Bluebird._

" _Uh, I'm just over there," she answered, pointing toward the adjacent lot._

" _Can I walk you to your car?" he asked._

 _She shrugged, then followed as they walked to his beat up pick-up truck where he unlocked the door for his sister and tucked the guitar behind the seat. Deacon's sister opened the door, but didn't get in, watching them as they walked another twenty feet to where Rayna's car sat._

" _Nice," Deacon said as they stood in front of the red BMW._

 _Rayna looked down at her feet. She hadn't thought about what it would look like for him to see the car. It had been a birthday present from her father then month before when she turned 16._

" _Uh, it's…"_

 _Deacon smiled. "It doesn't matter, Ray."_

 _She smiled as he shortened her name. She usually didn't like when people did that. Her mom had always called her "a little Ray of Sunshine" and the memory still hurt, but for some reason it didn't feel that way when Deacon did it._

 _She fished in her purse and pulled out a piece of paper and wrote her phone number on it. She handed it to him._

" _Here, but, uh...it's the phone line I share with my sister," she explained, suddenly feeling shy._

 _Deacon took the number and stuffed it in the front pocket of his jeans. "I'd, uh, give you mine, but my sister and I, we're in this efficiency and there's just a payphone there."_

 _Rayna nodded._

 _Deacon turned to head back to his truck, then stopped and came back._

" _I'm gonna call you, Rayna Wyatt and when I do, I sure hope you and I can find a stage somewhere to sing a couple of songs."_

 _Rayna found a smile crossing her face as she nodded. She hoped so too._

"Rayna."

Rayna opened her eyes at the sound of her name to find her sister standing in front of her. She eased off the short, narrow couch where she had finally fallen asleep the night before and stood up to hug her sister.

"Thanks for coming," she said as she tightened her arms around her sister.

"Of course. I knew I should have come for the surgery," Tandy said as they pulled back apart.

Rayna shrugged. "Who knew any of this stuff would happen."

Tandy led her back to the couch where they sat down. "How is Deacon and what is going on with Teddy?"

Rayna shrugged and looked up at the clock on the wall. "I'm supposed to meet with the doctors here in about a half hour to see about this therapy they're using that keeps his body cold to preserve the brain function and as for Teddy...Tandy, I don't even know what to think anymore. It was bad enough when there was a hooker and it was this one bad choice he'd made, but now when I hear about all this other stuff, what he's gotten himself messed up with and the stuff he did when we were married...did I ever know him at all?"

Tandy just shook her head. "How are they girls? Where are they?"

Rayna closed her eyes and raised her hand to her forehead, rubbing it across her eyes. "They're with Luke. I just didn't know what else to do."

Tandy nodded. "Makes sense. They know and trust him. And he was okay with that?"

Rayna nodded as well. "Yeah, he was actually really great."

"Hey, honey-you want to try to get a shower, change your clothes?" Tandy asked.

Rayna looked down at the clothes she'd been wearing for nearly 24 hours and sighed. As she started to respond, the door opened.

"Rayna," the doctor said as he walked into the room.

Rayna and Tandy stood up again as he crossed over to them.

"Dr. Rand, this is my sister, Tandy Hampton. Tandy, this is Deacon's doctor, Caleb Rand."

They quickly shook hands.

"How is he? I was just going to walk down to his room," Rayna said.

Caleb looked down at the chart he was holding. "He had a good night. There were no major changes. We'll continue the sedation and hypothermia therapy until after lunch, but as I said, there are no real changes."

"So he's still asleep?" Rayna asked.

Caleb nodded. "Yes. I mean, he's still unconscious, but remember, we're keeping him that way for now. We'll know more later today."

"The girls are coming up, can they seem him?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes, just for short visits, but that would be fine. I think the cardiology team is in there right now, but if you want to talk to the doctor, we can walk down there right now."

Rayna turned to her sister. "Why don't you go out to Luke's and pick up the girls and bring them up here. I'll go talk to the doctors."

Tandy nodded and reached to take her sister in another hug. "Hang in there, Rayna. Things are gonna be okay."

As Rayna pulled back, tears began to form in her eyes. "I guess I just gotta keep believing that."

* * *

Gunnar waited as the elevator rose up to the fifth floor, stepping out when the door finally opened. He scanned up and down the hallway, a smile crossing his face when he caught sight of Scarlett leaning against the wall outside her mother's hospital room.

"Hey, I think I got everything you asked for," he said as he walked up and handed her the bag of clothes and toiletries she'd requested.

"Thanks," she replied as she took the bag. "I guess I should have planned better to stay up here, and I just didn't feel like I could leave when we didn't know what was happening to Deacon…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down toward the floor. After a moment her eyes raised back up to meet his, but now they were filled with tears.

"I don't know what I'll do if he isn't okay," she said, her voice catching.

He found himself taking her in his arms, trying to offer her any kind of comfort. After a moment they pulled apart.

"And Caleb can't seem to tell me anything and he's busy working with the team and my mom…" Scarlett's voice broke again.

"I get it," Gunnar replied. "Hey, that's why you have friends. Let me help you with your mom. After Jason and Micah and well, everything, I owe you."

Scarlett excused herself to freshen up while Gunnar waited in the hall.

"Gunnar?"

He looked up to see Caleb Rand standing in front of him. The doctor was still in his white coat, but looked about as worn out as Scarlett had looked when he found her.

"Hey, Scarlett just went down the hall to wash her face and stuff," Gunnar explained. "She, uh, she had me stop over at Deacon's place to get some things for her."

Rand nodded. "Has she been in to see her mom?"

Gunnar shrugged. "I'm not sure. She was out in the hall when I got here."

The doctor was reaching for the door when Gunnar touched his arm. "Hey, man, has...did Scarlett ever say anything about her mom? About what she did?"

Caleb turned back him. "Scarlett is my girlfriend."

Gunnar nodded. "Yeah, I know that, but I mean, has she told you about all the stuff her mom did to her? Not just the stuff last year, but when she was growing up. If she hasn't, it doesn't mean she won't, but now that they're both here and this stuff with Deacon, I just think you need to know that it's been pretty messed up between them."

Caleb nodded. "Thanks, Gunnar. I know Scarlett appreciates your friendship and it's been great to have you here, but really, I think we can take it from here."

Gunnar stepped back. "Yeah, I get that. Well, if you need anything, let me know." He waited for a moment, then turned and left. It had been pretty clear what his role was supposed to be here and for now, he was not needed.

* * *

As Scarlett walked up the hallway, she was surprised to not see Gunnar. When she got to the door to her mom's room, it was open and Caleb was standing inside talking to her mom.

"How you feelin' today?" she asked as she walked up to the bed.

"Like I got split in half and had my guts pulled out," Beverly responded. "But your doctor friend says that's to be expected."

"She'd doing great," Caleb replied.

"Good enough you can get me out of this bed and go see my brother?" Beverly asked. "I...I need to see him."

Scarlett moved over and took her hand. "We'll get you up there, Momma, I promise. As soon as it's safe to do it, but there's lot of folks takin' care of Uncle Deacon. And Rayna's with him."

"I'm sure she is," Beverly spit out. "But I need to be there. I need to see Deacon."

Scarlett looked over at Caleb and shrugged.

"Let me see if I can get a wheelchair down here," Caleb offered. "I'll take you myself."

Beverly turned and smiled at him. "Well, at least someone here is willing to help me see my brother...who may be dying, even after I saved his life."

"He's not dying, Momma," Scarlett said quietly, her eyes on her feet rather than her mother.

"Not that I'd know for all you're doing to help me," Beverly responded. "So, can I put on my own clothes or maybe at least a robe?"

"I'll get your robe, Momma," Scarlett replied as she moved over to the wardrobe that held Beverly's things.

Caleb watched the interaction for a moment. "Well, I'll go see what I can do about a wheelchair," he said as he turned to walk out of the room.

* * *

Rayna headed down the hallway back to the Intensive Care Unit. She paused for a moment, remembering what it felt like to wake up on this floor after her car accident with Deacon. She said a quick prayer and then walked into the unit.

"Any chance I can go in for a minute?" she asked the nurse at the desk outside Deacon's room.

"Of course," the nurse replied. "They doctors will be back for rounds, but you're fine to head in there for a little bit."

She walked into the room where Deacon lay, much like he'd been each time she had come down during the night. She pulled up the chair they'd left in the corner for her and sat down. She reached up once again for Deacon's hand, taking it in her own. His skin was cold, but she could feel the rough edges where he had callouses from his years playing guitar. Her fingers moved across the scar left from the surgery he'd had to repair his hand after the accident.

"We almost lost each other once before, Deacon. I'm not ready to do it now," she said, quietly. "You made me a promise a lot of years ago and you made me another one yesterday. I'm holding you to it."

 _Rayna walked up to the door to Deacon's tiny apartment. She could hear him playing his guitar inside, singing something she hadn't heard before. She raised her hand, paused and then knocked._

" _Hey, Rayna," he said as he opened the door, a smile crossing his face. He looked down at the bag she was holding in her hand. "What's going on?"_

 _He stepped back and set down the guitar he'd been holding._

" _What were you singing?" she asked. "I liked the sound of it."_

 _A quick blush crossed Deacon's face. "Uh, just something I've been working on."_

" _Would you sing it for me?" she asked as she crossed over to the dirty easy chair that was pushed between the bed and the couch that she knew he slept on each night._

" _I don't think so," Deacon said. "So, what're you doing here?"_

 _Rayna looked up at him, suddenly feeling nervous. "Uh, I was wondering how much this place cost."_

 _Deacon sat down on the couch. "Why?"_

 _Rayna looked over at him, her eyes filling with tears. "Uh, cause my daddy just kicked me out."_

" _Kicked you out?" Deacon repeated. "What do you mean, kicked you out?"_

" _He found out about the showcase, with Watty and he said I couldn't do it. And I said he couldn't stop me and he said that as long as I was under his roof, he sure could. And so I'm not...under his roof."_

" _You should go home, Rayna," Deacon responded. "It's too hard, being out here on your own. And this place-it's no place for Rayna Wyatt to be living."_

 _Rayna looked over at him, her face set. "Well, she isn't. There's no more Rayna Wyatt. From now on, you can call me Rayna Jaymes."_

She looked up, pulled from her memories as she heard voices in the hallway.

"What do you mean I have to wait?"

She stood up, recognizing the voice immediately. She leaned in to kiss Deacon. "Be strong, babe. And come back to me."

She stepped from the room to find Scarlett, Dr. Rand and Beverly waiting outside the room.

"Seems only one person can be in with him at a time," Beverly said as Rayna brushed her hair back from her face.

"Mornin', Bev," she said as she stepped closer to Deacon's sister. "I'm real glad to see you're doing well enough to come up here. I'm sure it'll be a great comfort to Deacon to hear your voice and now you're doing okay after the surgery."

"I'd like to go in there now and see him," Beverly said, looking up at Caleb, completely ignoring Rayna's comment.

As Caleb pushed Beverly's wheelchair into the room, Scarlett came over to Rayna.

"I know he's feelin' better cause he's heard your voice this morning," Scarlett said as she gave Rayna a hug.

Rayna stepped back and gave Scarlett a smile. "You doing okay?"

Scarlett shrugged. "Can I say I'm not sure?"

"Of course you can," Rayna replied, smoothing her hand down Scarlett's hair.

"Scarlett!" Beverly called from the room.

"I better go in there," Scarlett said. "But, I'll get her back up to her room as soon as I can, leave you and Uncle Deacon in some peace."

"You don't have to manage her all on your own," Rayna replied, knowing how difficult Scarlett's relationship was with her mother.

"I'm doin' okay," Scarlett replied.

Rayna looked down as her phone rang. "Sorry, honey, I gotta take this," she apologized to Scarlett. She answered the call, turning her back to Deacon's niece. "Hey, Buck, what's up?"

"I'm sorry to bother you," Bucky began, "but before you see Luke again, we better talk about Juliette."

"Seriously?" Rayna asked. "And what do you mean before I see Luke again?"

"Cause Juliette just severed her relationship with Highway 65 and is going to release her record with Luke's label," Bucky explained. "Oh, and there's one more thing."

Rayna sighed. "What?"

"She fired Glenn...and hired Jeff Fordham as her new manager."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

_**Thank you for your patience-life has gotten very busy, so my writing time has suffered, but I'm still working on the story and will keep posting. Thanks to everyone who has been reading and I hope you enjoy. - Rachel**_

* * *

Rayna stood for a moment, unable to answer Bucky. Did the world hate her? Why was all of this happening at one time?

"Can you handle it, Buck?" she asked. "I just don't think I have an ounce of anything left in me to deal with it."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Sue her ass," Rayna replied.

She ended the call with Bucky and looked over at Deacon's room where Beverly continued to hold court. She was never going to get that woman out of there willingly. She looked over at the nurse's station and shot a questioning look, gesturing with her head toward Deacon's room.

The nurse smiled, understanding Rayna immediately, nodded her head and got up to go in and let Beverly know it was time for Deacon to rest.

She pulled her contacts up again on her phone, this time dialing Tandy. Her sister answered on the second ring.

"Hey," she said as Tandy answered. "Where are you?"

"We're just getting ready to come into town," her sister answered.

Rayna looked at her watch and then down the hall. "Bring the girls up-they'll be able to see Deacon for a minute, but then I think we're going to need to go find out what's going on with Teddy."

There was a pause. "Have you spoken to him, Rayna?" Tandy asked.

"No. But we must be able to find out what's going on. Do you have anyone you can call?" she asked her sister.

"Yeah, I can try a couple people," Tandy replied. "Let me get up there and we can talk."

Rayna slipped her phone back into her front pocket and leaned up against the wall, unable to fight her eyes from closing.

"Rayna? Might we talk for a moment?"

She stood back up, opening her eyes to find Caleb Rand standing in front of her. He invited her a few steps down the hall to a consult room. They walked in and each took a seat.

"I just wanted to talk a bit more about what we might see and expect in the next couple of days," he explained. "So, we will discontinue the cooling therapy later today."

"And then you wake him up?" she asked.

"Yes and no," the doctor replied. "We'll reduce his sedation and see how he does, monitor his breathing and see what he's able to do on his own."

"So you can take him off the respirator?" she asked.

The doctor shook his head. "Probably not, at least not right away. We'll continue to monitor him very closely, see if he's triggering the vent with his own attempts to breathe, but absent that, we'll keep him on full life support for the first 72 hours."

"And after that?" Rayna asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

"After that, it's a conversation with his family," the doctor replied. "We'll need to find out what his wishes are. But, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"About what?" Rayna asked.

Caleb looked down at the chart in his hands, then back up at Rayna. "You and Deacon didn't do any paperwork did you?"

"What kind of paperwork?" she asked.

"An advanced care directive? A medical power of attorney?"

Rayna shook her head. "But Maddie is his daughter? Doesn't that give me some kind of say?"

Caleb shook his head. "Not since she's a minor and you aren't married. And without a document telling me otherwise, I'll have to defer to his closest adult blood relative."

"Beverly," Rayna said slowly.

The doctor nodded. "I'm telling you this, because I've seen things get very tense within families in situations like this one and for everyone's sake, including Deacon, I hope it won't turn out that way this time."

Rayna sighed and shook her head. "Me too." Her phone beeped and she looked down. "The girls are here. Is it okay if they come up to see Deacon?"

Caleb nodded. "Of course. I think that would be good for everyone."

They stood up and started walking toward the door.

"Thank you," Rayna said as he held the door for her.

"Of course," Caleb replied. "But next time I come to find you, I hope it's with good news."

A weak smile crossed Rayna's face and she nodded. "Me too."

* * *

Rayna held her arms out as the girls came down the hall toward her. "Come here and hug me. I need you," she said as she pulled her daughters close to her. After a moment, they released their embrace.

"Okay, c'mon," she said as she led them down to Deacon's room. "He's still sedated, but I know that I could tell when y'all were around me when I was asleep and I'm sure he's gonna be happy to hear your voices and feel your hands on him."

She pulled open the door and the girls walked in and went straight up to the bed where Deacon lay.

"I love you, Dad," Maddie said as she leaned in and kissed Deacon on the cheek.

Daphne slid in next to her sister and took Deacon's hand in her own. "We can't wait for you to be back with us, Deacon. We miss you and we need you to get better."

Rayna stepped back in the hall where Tandy was on the phone. She nodded at Rayna, said her goodbyes and hung up.

"I was able to get through to Dash," she told Rayna. "It sounds like Teddy's gonna take a plea deal. They're going to hold the hearing this afternoon, but if you go down there now, he can let you see Teddy."

"Can you stay with the girls?" Rayna asked. "I'd like to talk to him alone first, see where his head is at before I put them in the middle of it all."

Tandy nodded.

"Dash say anything else?" Rayna asked.

Tandy shrugged. "He did, but I'm not sure it makes any sense."

"What did he say?" Rayna asked.

Tandy shook her head. "Something about how there's no greater sacrifice than the one a father will make for his daughters."

"Well, for once I wish he'd just act like a father and behave in a way that didn't require him for sacrifice himself," Rayna shot back.

"I got the sense he wasn't just talking about Teddy," Tandy replied.

"Is this still about Daddy? Is Teddy a part of all that?" Rayna asked.

Tandy shook her head again. "Your guess is as good as mine, Rayna."

* * *

Rayna waited next to the small table in the interview room while they brought Teddy up from his holding cell. It reminded her all over again of visiting her father in prison. It all felt so unreal.

The door opened and Teddy walked in, his head bowed, wearing an orange jumpsuit. He looked nothing like the man she'd shared her life with for so many years. He walked over and took a seat on the chair across from her. The guard moved to the corner, seemingly out of earshot, but in reality she knew they should not say anything they didn't want the US Attorney's office to hear.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked.

Teddy looked up at her and nodded.

"And you're taking a plea?"

He nodded again and cleared his throat. "It seemed like the best option when I talked to my attorney. It...it should get me out in about five years."

Five years. Maddie would be grown. In college. Or on the road. Daphne would be Maddie's age-the awkward transition between childhood and adulthood.

"Do you want me to bring the girls to see you?" she asked.

He shook his head, then nodded. "I...I hate to have them see me like this, but Ray, I don't know if I can do it if I can't see them."

Rayna nodded. "We'll figure it out. They're heartbroken."

"How did they find out?" he asked, finally looked up at her.

Rayna took in a deep breath. "We, uh...we were at the hospital."

"With Deacon? Is everything okay?"

Rayna nodded, then shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. "He, uh...he had his transplant but there was a complication. He's...he's in a coma. His heart stopped."

Teddy reached over to take her hand.

"No touching."

They both looked up, suddenly remember the guard in the corner. Teddy pulled his hand back.

 _Rayna looked at Teddy, a flash of uneasiness moving through her as she considered his offer._

" _I mean it, Rayna-marry me. We can raise the baby, start a life together. I love you and I know...I know you'll love me."_

 _But the problem was, she didn't. She didn't know if she'd ever really love him. Just like she didn't know if this baby was his. Actually, she was pretty sure that both things weren't true._

 _Even after everything that had happened, deep down, she still loved Deacon and Deacon only and the tiny life that had begun to grow deep in her-well, she was pretty sure that was a part of Deacon, too._

 _But this would solve a lot of problems. And it also allowed her to keep a piece of Deacon with her, even now when everything with him seemed so hopeless. If they couldn't be together, she'd have his child._

 _She nodded, slowly. Teddy threw his arms around her and pulled her tight._

 _That was the thing about Teddy-chances were, he'd never hurt her. But the thing that made her worry the most, that was causing the uneasiness was that she wasn't sure she could promise the same._

"Did I...did I cause all this?" Rayna asked. "I should have never said I'd marry you, it wasn't fair, you were a good guy, Teddy and now this...and Deacon? Why did he get sick? Why did it take so long for him to tell me? We could have gotten the transplant sooner, maybe he wouldn't have been so weak…"

"Stop it, Rayna," Teddy said, his voice stronger than it had been earlier. "Even now...knowing everything I do...I wouldn't change it. I'd still marry you. I hope I'd make difference choices, but I'd never do anything that would mean we wouldn't have our girls.

"And I'd put my money on Deacon," he added. "That man's way too in love with you and way too stubborn to give up now. All those years you were with me and he'd just stand back there, doing what he needed to do to stay in your life, on your terms. He never gave up on that love, Ray. He won't do it now."

Rayna looked over at him, the tears once again threatening to spill from her eyes. "Thanks, Teddy. I hope you're right."

"I've been wrong about a lot of stuff in my life, Rayna, but one thing I've never been wrong about is you and Deacon."

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

_**My apologies for the long delay in this chapter-life got in the way! But I am back to writing and will have more chapters shortly. Thank you for reading and for your reviews. I deeply appreciate you taking the time to tell me what you think about the story. - RW**_

* * *

Rayna pulled into the driveway. She had wanted to get back to the hospital, but between the hours at the hospital and that feeling she had after she left the jail, she needed a shower. She had no more put the car into park when a black SUV pulled in behind her. She sighed and got out of the car.

"What do you mean you're suing me?" Juliette shouted as she climbed out of the truck.

Rayna sighed again and shook her head. "Juliette, I've got less than no time for this today. If you or your manager want to come to your senses and honor your contract, then make an appointment with Bucky and we can talk. Otherwise, I'll see you in court." She turned and began walking to the house when Juliette came up and grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"Why not just let me go? You know you have no interest in serving my needs as an artist," Juliette ranted.

Rayna pulled her arm free. "Because, I don't think you're yourself, Juliette. And as someone who Deacon cares about, I'm willing to give you another chance to save yourself, but I'm telling you, I just don't have any energy, physical or emotional to deal with your shit. So, make your choice-keep going down this path and I'll fight you to the end or come back and we can make a reasonable plan."

Juliette stood for a moment, then turned and headed back to her vehicle. As she opened the door, she paused. "Then I guess you can expect to hear from my attorney. Cause, friendship or not, no way in hell I'm going to play second banana to any of your drama, Rayna."

Rayna paused, opening her mouth to say something about Deacon's condition, then decided it wasn't worth it, turned and walked into the house. Closing the door behind her, she sank to the floor, the stress of everything that had happened in the past couple of days suddenly washing over her.

"Deacon," she choked out as the tears ran down her face.

A few minutes later, hearing Tandy's car pull up in the driveway, she pushed up off the floor and walked into the kitchen, attempting to clean up her face before her sister walked in with the girls.

"Mom," Daphne said as she crossed to Rayna and threw her arms around her.

"How's Deacon?" she asked the girls.

"Still asleep," Maddie replied. "But Aunt Beverly was with him and said we should come home and spend some time with you. I'm sure he's feeling so much better having her there, too."

Rayna nodded, not trusting what she might actually say if she was forced to respond to Maddie's observation.

"Did you talk to Dad?" Daphne asked quietly. "Is he okay?"

Rayna nodded as she leaned across the counter, reaching out to take the girls hands as they sat on the tall kitchen stools. "I did go see him and we both want you to be able to go and see him as well."

"Is he okay?" Maddie repeated Daphne's question.

Rayna took in a deep breath and looked over at Tandy. Her sister nodded slowly.

"So, your dad-you know he loves you both so much," Rayna started. "But, he made some bad choices."

"Like what?" Daphne asked.

"Is he going to jail like Paw Paw?" Maddie asked.

Rayna squeezed their hands a bit tighter. "He did some things he should not have done and yes, he's going to go to jail like Paw Paw did. But unlike your grandfather, he's taking responsibility for those decisions. He's admitting what he did wrong and promising to not do it again."

"How long will he be gone?" Maddie asked, her voice quiet.

Rayna looked over at her oldest, her eyes filling with tears. "He's gonna go to jail, for a while."

"But we can see him?" Daphne asked.

Rayna nodded. "Yes, they're going to let you see him tonight before they take him from the county jail."

"But that's when they're gonna wake Dad up," Maddie said quietly. "I wanted to be there…"

"I know, baby," Rayna replied. "And you can decide what you want to do, but I think it would be really good for you to go with your sister and see Teddy. Then you can come and see Deacon. And we don't know that he'll wake up right away, this is just when they're going to stop the hypnotherapy. It will be fine if you come check on him a bit later after you've seen Teddy."

"Please come with me," Daphne said quietly. "I think you should come."

Maddie looked at her mom first, then at her younger sister. "Okay, I will."

* * *

Rayna stepped back onto the floor where Deacon's room was located. She found herself slowing as she got closer, hoping that some kind of a miracle would have happened, that Deacon would be sitting in his bed, smiling and listening as Beverly reminded him one more time that Rayna had derailed his sister's career.

But as she stood outside the room, she could see that he was much as she'd left him a few hours earlier, with all the tubes and monitors, the ventilator breathing for him and the cooling blankets covering his body.

" _Where is he?" Rayna asked as she ran into the emergency room._

" _Miss?" the clerk at the admitting desk called after her as she rushed down the hall, desperately looking in room after room._

 _She pulled up in front of the trauma room where she could see Vince's bloodied body on the table. A nurse came out of the room._

" _We can't have you in here. Please, you need to go back to the waiting room."_

" _My boyfriend, Deacon Claybourne-he was in the car with him. Where is he?" Rayna demanded, pushing the nurse's arm off of hers. She gasped as the doctor working on Vince stepped back and called a time of death. "Where is he?"_

" _Give me a minute, and I'll find out," the nurse responded. She led Rayna to a chair in the hallway. "I'll find out, but you need to stay here. Will you do that?"_

 _Rayna nodded wordlessly. How had this happened? Deacon had just gotten back from rehab. Again._

 _She sat in the hallway and watched as they pulled the sheet over Vince's body and the medical team left the room. She knew she was supposed to stay in the chair, but she just couldn't. She had to look at him, see him, see what had happened. She found herself walking into the room and pulling the sheet back, seeing his face with cuts all over it, bruises all over his chest…_

" _You shouldn't be in here."_

 _She turned to find the nurse again. "Did you find him? Is he...is he dead?"_

 _The nurse shook her head. "He's in surgery. He's pretty banged up and it was touch and go down here, but he had a seat belt on unlike his friend. They think he'll make it."_

 _She led Rayna upstairs to another waiting room outside the operating room. Rayna had waited there for nearly six hours. After Deacon finally made it to his room, she waited another twelve hours for him to wake up. But then he woke up, he smiled at her and seventy-two hours later she was helping him out to their car, taking him home-broken-hearted at Vince's death, but so grateful that Deacon was alive._

"We're just about to take the blankets off," Caleb Rand said as he came up next to her. "You can come and be in the room, if you want."

Rayna followed him in wordlessly, stopping to kiss Deacon's cheek before moving into the corner where she was out of the way of the medical team. She watched as they removed the cooling treatment, then adjusted Deacon's still body in the bed.

"What happens now?" she asked Caleb as the rest of the team left the room.

He looked over to Deacon and then back to her. "We continue life support and we monitor him. At 72 hours we will reassess based on his response."

Rayna looked up at the clock in the room. It had been 24 hours since the end of the surgery. It had felt like forever-she could only imagine what the next three days would feel like. And why did it feel like this time there might not be a happy ending…


	6. Chapter 6

Scarlett opened her eyes and looked over to see her mother still asleep in the bed. It had been two days since the surgery and Beverly was recovering well. They had moved her from the ICU to a regular room on the surgical floor and given Scarlett a chair that pulled out into a bed to sleep in if she wished.

"You know you don't have to stay here, watchin' me sleep," Beverly said from her bed, her eyes still closed.

"I just want to make sure you have everything you need," Scarlett said quietly. She pushed the light blanket off her legs and stood up. "I'm going to go check on Deacon and see how Rayna is doing."

"Well, don't let me keep you," Beverly replied.

Scarlett stopped at the door, started to say something, then turned and walked out of the room. If she had learned anything in her life, it was that there was no reasoning with her mother.

* * *

Scarlett walked into Deacon's room and looked over where Rayna lay sleeping in a chair much like the one she had just gotten out of in her mom's room. It wasn't protocol to let someone stay in one of the ICU cubicles, but the chair had mysteriously appeared the night before as Rayna was falling over asleep in the straight back chair they had brought in for her earlier that day.

Scarlett walked up to her uncle and brushed a hair back from where it had fallen toward his eyes. She had so rarely seen him still, lying asleep like this. Except he wasn't asleep-he was unconscious and no one seemed to be willing to say when or if he was going to wake up.

She had pressed Caleb to tell her what to expect and unlike earlier with the details about the transplant, now he was unwilling to tell her much. Which had driven her to the internet. She knew these first 72 hours were crucial in predicting if Deacon would or would not recover.

"How does he look?"

She turned to find Rayna now awake and sitting up. Scarlett shrugged.

"I keep thinking the next time I wake up, he's just going to be sitting there in the bed, asking me where Maddie and Daphne are, if I can bring him a guitar and that he's got a verse, a chorus and a bridge for a new song," Rayna said, a small smile crossing her face.

"He'll be doin' that soon enough," Scarlett answered. She went over and sat on the end of the chaise near Rayna's feet. "He's got way too much to live for, Rayna."

Rayna nodded, then a few tears leaked from her eyes. She reached up quickly to brush them away. "I know...but…"

"It's hard, isn't it?" Scarlett replied.

Rayna nodded. "They said this part can take up to 24 hours as well. He looks warmer and feels more like himself." She pulled her phone out and looked at the screen. "Tandy's bringing the girls up before school. I'd better go meet them."

"I'll stay here with him," Scarlett replied as she reached out and took Rayna into a quick hug. "I know he knows we're here."

Rayna returned the embrace and then stood up. "I hope so. I dearly hope so."

* * *

"Can we sign to him?" Maddie asked as they stood next to Deacon's bed.

"Of course," Rayna said as she put her arms around the girls. "I'm sure he'd love that."

She watched Deacon's body as the girls began to sing. The hypothermia treatment had been stopped the night before and they had slowly been warming him up since then. His cheeks finally had a bit more pink to them. The next test would come later that day when they would try to take him off the ventilator. They'd do that for the next three days. And then…

"Mom!" Maddie exclaimed. She pointed to Deacon where it looked like was grimacing. "Is he in pain?"

Rayna reached up and pressed the button to call the nurse. She then moved over next to Maddie and reached to take Deacon's hand.

"You're okay, Deacon. You're at the hospital. The surgery went well and your liver is doing great. We're all here with you. C'mere girls, just put your hands here on his arms," she directed Maddie and Daphne.

"Okay, let's sing something," she said as she continued to hold Deacon's hand. "I'm sure Deacon would love to hear you."

As the girls began to sing, Deacon's face did relax. Rayna looked up to see a nurse at the door.

"Did you need something?" Kelly, the nurse asked.

Rayna nodded, let her hand slip from Deacon's and moved over to the door. "He had a reaction, when the girls first began to sing. Is this a sign of him waking up?"

Kelly smiled. "It could be. Let me page Dr. Rand and we'll have him come take a look." She patted Rayna on the arm and turned to leave the room. "But, it could be a lot of things, so…"

Rayna nodded. Don't get your hopes up, was the unspoken message. She turned back to the girls. "That sounded really great."

Maddie leaned forward and ran her fingers over the stubble that was beginning to appear on Deacon's cheek, which now was slack and unmoving. "Is he gonna wake up, Mom?"

Rayna moved over and slipped her arm around Maddie. "We're just gonna have to wait, keep him in our prayers and we'll see."

Maddie turned and tucked herself into Rayna's arms. She could feel her daughter crying. Daphne moved over and also put her arms around Rayna.

It just wasn't fair. None of it was.

* * *

Gunnar pulled up in front of the hospital and looked down again at his phone. _Meet me at the hospital? Need to get out of here. - Scarlett._ He was about to send her a message saying he'd arrived when the passenger door opened and she slipped into the car.

"Thank you for coming. I don't think I coulda managed another minute in there," Scarlett said as she pulled the seatbelt across and hooked it.

"How's Deacon?" Gunnar asked.

Scarlett shrugged. "The same."

"How's your mom?"

Scarlett grimaced. "The same. I mean, I don't know why I thought she'd be any different. It's not like it was half her liver that makes her mean."

"You want to go somewhere? Get out of here for a bit?" Gunnar asked.

Scarlett nodded. "Yeah, maybe just for a while. Can we go back to your place and work on that song for a bit?"

"Sounds good," Gunnar replied as he put the car into gear and headed toward East Nashville.

* * *

Rayna watched from the hallway as Caleb and two other doctors from the team assessed Deacon. After a few minutes he came out into the hall.

"Is he waking up?" she asked.

Caleb shook his head. "Not that any of the monitors have indicated, but we wouldn't necessarily expect that right now."

"So what caused him to do that, to act like he was in pain?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her body, trying to protect herself from the words.

"It's hard for us to know. I mean, he could have a level of consciousness, but there's a lot we don't know about this stage. He's not sedated, but he's also not breathing on his own."

Rayna stood quietly, taking it in. "So, we just wait?"

"Yes, we wait-and we hope for the best. You can to keep focused on that, Rayna. There's still a lot of hope."

 _Rayna stood waiting outside the curtained area in the emergency room. Finally, the curtain was pushed back and a doctor invited her to come into the small exam space._

" _He's gonna be fine. We pumped his stomach and he's not going to feel very good when he wakes up, but he should be just fine," the doctor explained. "But, if you think you have any way to convince him, you need to get him back in rehab. The next time he might not be so lucky."_

" _I know," Rayna replied as she went in to find Deacon, once again, in a hospital bed._

 _She waited there for him to wake up-waited the rest of the day while the tour bus went on to the next gig and they found someone else to be the opener for that night's show._

" _Hey."_

 _She opened her eyes to finally find Deacon's open as well._

" _Where are we?" he asked._

" _Tulsa," she answered, dully._

 _Deacon looked down and found the IV going into his arm. His eyes closed, then opened up again._

" _Shit, Ray-I'm sorry. I…"_

 _She stood up and picked up her purse and put over her shoulder. "I know, Deacon. But I also know I can't spend anymore nights sitting in a hospital waiting for you to wake up. You need to get better, babe. Or I...well, I can't do this again."_

 _Deacon nodded. "Let me fix this," he finally responded._

 _She handed him a packet of papers. "You're booked on a flight tomorrow morning to Minnesota. It's a place called Hazelden. They're supposed to be the best."_

" _Thanks, Rayna," he responded._

 _She paused by the curtain. "Don't thank me. Just get it right this time, Deacon. Cause three strikes and I'm out. Got it?"_

" _I got it," he replied._

It had been a lot of years since she'd sat in a hospital waiting on him to wake up. And to be fair, this was and it wasn't about his drinking. This was about needing the liver, but also about having to wait too long for it. She found that bit of rage beginning to fill back up in her-why did this have to happen to them now when they had everything else they wanted? Why had it taken Beverly so long to say yes?

"Rayna?"

She turned to find Deacon's sister there, sitting in a wheelchair with her own IV pole.

"Bev."

"I think we better talk," Deacon's sister said, her face with that same hard look Rayna had seen so many times before. It made Rayna feel like someone had just walked over her grave.


	7. Chapter 7

Rayna looked over at Deacon's sister sitting in front of her. Talk about what? "Okay, shall we go down to the waiting room?" she asked Beverly.

"I think we can do it here," Beverly replied. "I've been discussing this with Deacon's doctors and I think that what we need to do now is give him time to rest and recover. Maybe stop with so much of the parade, the singing, all of the hovering."

Rayna looked at Beverly, not sure she understood what the other woman meant. "Hovering?"

"You," Beverly shot back. "I'm Deacon's sister, his next of kin and I'm saying, I think you need to leave it alone, Rayna. All of this," she swung her hand around in a circle in front of her, "it's distracting Deacon from getting better. So, why don't you go home and I'll call you when we need you."

"What?" Rayna asked. "I'm not leaving, Beverly. I know what Deacon needs. I'm the one who's been here, with him, through this illness, through the other times. I'm the one he loves."

"And I'm his sister," Beverly replied, her voice cold. "So, in my role as his medical proxy, I'm telling you you're not welcome and I've instructed the staff that Deacon is not to be disturbed. Got it?"

Rayna looked up to see a hospital security guard had appeared behind Beverly.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked, her voice getting sharp and louder.

"No, I'm not, Rayna. You may be the queen of country, but you're not Deacon's wife and I guess right now, that's what matters," Beverly responded. "So, you can wait here while Security gets your things from Deacon's room and then head for home or your office or some concert hall-I know your life is very busy. Didn't I see your ex-husband got arrested?"

"Just let me go say goodbye to him," Rayna answered, her voice now quiet.

"I don't think so," Beverly responded. She pushed her chair forward toward the door of Deacon's room. "I'll handle it from here."

"Don't think that this is going to work," Rayna shot back at her. "I'm calling my attorney as soon as I walk out of here."

"Go right ahead," Beverly replied. "And I'll call the press. I'm sure it'll make a great story. I know they loved the tip last week about Deacon's illness."

Rayna shook her head. She had been pretty sure that it had been Beverly who had slipped the news of Deacon's illness to the press before the night she showed up at the Bluebird, but Deacon had been so happy about Beverly's change of heart that he hadn't wanted Rayna to question her.

She stood against the wall, waiting as the security guard followed Beverly's directions to remove everything that she had put in Deacon's room to make him know they were there for him. It was so petty, so hurtful-to both her and Deacon. But then again, that's how Beverly had always been. Willing to hurt everyone around her, just for spite.

 _Rayna looked over at Deacon, sitting in a chair across from her. "You look really good, babe," she said. And he did-healthier than he had in a couple of years. The time in Minnesota had done so much good for him._

 _Deacon sat, his eyes fixed on the door. "Did she say that they would come?" he asked Rayna, his eyes moving over and settling on her._

 _She nodded. "I talked to your mom and your sister yesterday. They were booked on the flight coming in at 2 pm from Biloxi."_

 _She looked over at the clock on the wall. It was almost 7 pm. They should have been here by now._

" _You want me to check and see if there are any messages?" she asked._

 _Deacon shook his head. He got up and walked over to the window, looking out into the woods filled with tall, thin pine trees. After a moment he turned back to Rayna. "It's okay. I'm sure something came up."_

 _She wanted to say the right thing. It had been such a big breakthrough for Deacon to ask them to come and be here for family therapy. And when she'd called to offer to pay for the tickets, Deacon's sister had been cool, but had been willing to come and to bring Deacon's mom. It just felt like maybe, somehow, things would be different this time-that maybe he'd be able to put one or two of those family demons behind him._

" _Excuse me, Deacon?"_

 _They looked up to see one of the staff standing at the door._

" _It's your niece on the phone. If you want to come to my office, I can give you some time to talk to her."_

 _Deacon got up and followed the man into the hallway. Rayna waited a beat, then followed them, standing outside the office while Deacon spoke with Scarlett. After a few minutes he hung up and came back out._

" _They're not coming," he said, his voice dull._

 _Rayna reached up to take him into her arms but he stepped away from her, shaking his head._

" _Sorry, Ray-I just don't think I can do that right now," Deacon said._

" _Did she say why they didn't come?" Rayna asked._

 _Deacon looked over at her. There were tears in his eyes. She had never seen that emotion from him._

" _Scarlett said that her momma said she just wasn't up to it-not this time. Not any time."_

 _Rayna stayed for the weekend with the other families, but she might as well flown home the first night. Once Deacon had opened that part of his head and heart up, it opened so much more pain, but she wasn't the one he needed to heal it. He stayed and finished the program, but once again, a few months later, she found him passed out on the bus, unwilling, unable to stop the demons with anything other than a bottle._

* * *

"Play through the chorus one more time," Scarlett said as Gunnar sat on the chair across from the couch.

 _I'm inside out shot through the center_

 _Feel this scar of where you entered_

 _Took my life and turned it upside down_

 _I'm burned to ashes split down the middle_

 _If anyone asks it hurt just a little_

 _I died inside the day I let you go_

 _But I will never let you know_

The last chord trailed off and they sat staring at each other. Gunnar set his guitar down and moved to the couch, settling in next to her.

"We shouldn't do this," Scarlett said. "I'm with Caleb...you have Kylie."

Gunnar leaned in and kissed her. She didn't react for a moment, then opened her mouth to receive him. He pressed her back against the couch and she slipped under him. His hand moved down, slipping under the soft cotton on her blouse and onto her skin. She pulled him closer to her, feeling more like herself than she had in months.

Gunner continued, his hands moving across her body now when her phone began to buzz. He started to sit up, but she pulled him closer again. The phone stopped. Then started buzzing again.

Reluctantly, she broke the embrace and reached down into her bag.

"It's Caleb," she said, her voice quiet. She pressed the button to answer the call. "Caleb?"

They spoke for a moment, then she hung up. "I need you to take me back. Right now."

"Is it Deacon?" Gunnar asked, his face filled with concern.

Scarlett shook her head. "No, as usual, it's my mother. I should have never left her alone. She's up there ruining everything. Again."

Gunnar stood up and held his hand out to her. "Let's go and see what we can do to fix this."

She took his hand and stood up. "Gunnar…"

But she didn't say anything else. She turned and headed toward the door, and Gunnar followed. Whatever was happening, they would have to figure it out later.

* * *

Rayna was sitting in her car, still in the parking garage when Bucky finally found her. He tapped on the window on the passenger side. She looked over, pressed the button to unlock the door and he climbed into the vehicle.

"You okay?" he asked as he settled into the soft leather seat.

Rayna looked over at him, chuckled softly and shook her head. "No, I'm not okay."

"What can I do, Ray?"

Rayna looked straight ahead across the dash, her hands resting on the steering wheel. "How did I get here, Bucky? I mean, I've worked hard my whole life, I've tried to do the right thing when I could and I never intentionally tried to hurt anyone, but here I sit. Deacon is in that hospital, I'm out here. The girls are heartbroken about Teddy and Deacon. The label is a mess… I mean, how did this all happen?"

"Why are you out here?" Bucky asked.

Rayna looked over at him and smiled. "Because it turns out that Beverly is the one who has the say about what happens to Deacon and she has determined that I'm not helping, so she kicked me out."

"She what?" Bucky asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

"Yep-she had security go in his room and pick up my things and carry them out to me. Then they walked me out here. I'm kind of surprised they didn't just escort me the whole way down to the edge of the property."

Bucky pulled out his phone. "I'm going to call our lawyer. This makes no sense."

Rayna shook her head. "No, it makes no sense at all, but that's Beverly. I'm just...I'm tired, Bucky. I'm tired of fighting, of hoping, of trying to hard to make things work out."

Bucky looked over at her. "I don't actually think that's true, Rayna. But I do think you're tired and you're worried. Let's go home, try to rest a little bit and then we'll figure out what to do. Deacon's in good hands. Can you do that?"

Rayna closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She opened them and looked over at her manager and nodded. "Yeah, Buck. I can do that."

* * *

Scarlett marched off the elevator, Gunnar trailing behind her. She walked quickly down the hallway to her mother's room. She opened the door to find Beverly sitting in her bed reading a magazine.

"What exactly are you doing?" she demanded as she walked up to the bed.

Beverly looked over at her, laid down her magazine and smiled. "I'm doing what I think is best. I think all of this hovering is stressing Deacon out. I'm just looking out for my brother."

"You don't give a shit about him," Scarlett spat out at her. "If you did, you would have done the surgery right away and not made him wait so long so that he got so sick and this all happened."

"I'm never gonna be good enough for you, am I?" Beverly replied. "Well, you won't have to worry about me pretty soon."

"What do you mean?" Scarlett asked, feeling a cold fear wash over her.

"I'm going home," she said. "Today. And I'm taking Deacon with me."

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

_Rayna felt the warm water sluice over her body. It was so relaxing as it ran down, washing away all the stress. She turned at the sound of the glass door being pulled open and smiled as Deacon slid in next to her._

" _What are you doing here?" she asked, smiling and then slipping from beneath the water so that she could kiss him._

" _I missed you, babe," he replied. "Where were you? You just disappeared.."_

Rayna sat up in bed, taking a minute to realize she was in her bedroom at home, the room dark despite the fact that it was the middle of the day. She rolled over, breathing in deeply, yearning for the scent of Deacon that still lingered in the sheets and on his pillow.

Her phone buzzed again and she realized that it must have been what had woken her up from the dream.

 _Where are you?_ was the text from Scarlett. _Mom off deep end_ was the next message.

She pressed the call button to connect to Scarlett. The phone went directly to voicemail.

 _Can't talk. Come back to hospital now._

Rayna reached over, turned the light on and sighed. She pushed up from the bed, and walked over to her dresser, grabbing the first shirt that her hand touched and slipped it over her body. She pulled on a pair of jeans and slipped her feet into the shoes that were still at the end of the bed.

There was a tap at her bedroom door and Tandy opened it peeking her head into the room.

"I thought you'd sleep a bit longer," her sister said as she walked into Rayna's room.

Rayna shook her head. "I have to get back up to the hospital. I was going to just give Bev some time to cool off, but Scarlett texted and something's happening. Can you call Bucky and have him get my lawyer up there? I didn't want to make a scene, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let that woman do anything to hurt Deacon again."

"Of course, honey," Tandy replied. "Just go and I'll make the calls. You need anything else?"

Rayna took in a deep breath. "You think you can give Judge Larson a call? I don't know...get a restraining order or something?" She hated to keep trading on her father's dirty relationships, but in some ways, this time felt even more dire than the time Teddy has gotten an injunction to keep the girls away from Deacon.

How times had changed. Now Teddy was the one in jail and Deacon-Deacon had been there, had finally gotten that chance to have the family they had dreamed of for so long.

Rayna sucked in a deep sob.

"Oh, honey," Tandy said as she pulled her sister into her arms.

Rayna stayed pressed against her sister's shoulders, the tears now choking her voice. "I'm losing him, Tandy. I can feel him slipping away from me. And it's not fair. It's just not fair."

"He's still there, Ray. And you're gonna get him back. Everything's going to be fine."

Rayna stepped back and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Okay, so I'm gonna go."

Tandy leaned in and gave her a quick hug. "I'll get on the phone and have Bucky get the ball rolling. I love you, Rayna."

Rayna nodded, and headed for the door of the bedroom. She stopped at the door. "And, if you can, just make an excuse to the girls. I don't want them to know what's going on."

Tandy nodded. "Just go. I'll handle it."

* * *

Scarlett looked down at her phone. There had been one quick text from Rayna saying she was on the way and bringing the cavalry. Scarlett hoped so. Her mom had had that look in her eye-like she was going to roll Deacon's bed right out of the hospital, if she had to do it.

"Let's talk about this, Mama," Scarlett said, trying to keep her voice even and calm.

"There's nothing to talk about, Scarlett. I've made up my mind. Everything went wrong for Deacon when he came up here, when he met that woman. I just need to get him back to Natchez and I can take care of him there," Beverly replied.

"Oh, of course," Scarlett replied, trying to think of anything she could do to diffuse the situation. "But you're not really well enough to travel and I think we need to give these doctors here a chance to help Uncle Deacon wake up. I mean, we really need to wait at least 72 hours to give him a chance to heal."

"And if he doesn't wake up in those 72 hours?" Beverly asked. "I mean, don't you think that she'd probably just pull the plug on him?"

Scarlett put her arm on her mother's. "Now, why would you think that, Mama? You know that Rayna wants Uncle Deacon to get well as much as we do."

Beverly shook her head. "No, I've seen the way she's sitting in there, just watching him to see if he'll just stop breathing."

"She's waiting for him to wake up. She wants him to come back. She wants their family back," Scarlett tried to explain.

Beverly shook off Scarlett's hand. "And that's why I can't let her-he's my family."

Scarlett took a step back, watching. It was like the mother she'd known when she was little-starting out a little intense, then getting mean and then just irrational. Just like when she was sick.

"Mama, I'm just gonna go down here and freshen up a bit, okay?" Scarlett said. She needed to get more answers and soon.

"Fine," Beverly said as she turned back and put her full attention on Deacon, who continued to lay in his bed, still, his chest raising and lowering with the rhythm of the ventilator.

* * *

As Rayna pulled her truck into a spot in the parking garage her phone indicated a new text had arrived.

 _In Caleb's office. Come when you get here._

Rayna slipped her phone back into her pocket and headed into the hospital.

* * *

Rayna walked up to the door to Caleb's office and tapped on the door, pushing it open to find the doctor behind his desk and Scarlett sitting in one of the chairs in front of him.

"She's not right in her head," Scarlett was saying as Rayna walked in and sat down next to Deacon's niece.

"I assume we're talking about your mother," Rayna said. "It was pretty apparent that something was going on earlier-I mean, she hates me, but this seemed a bit much."

Caleb was looking down through a medical chart in front of him. "So, you said she had been taking a mood stabilizer?"

"If we're lucky," Scarlett muttered.

"What?" Caleb asked.

"Yes, she's taken for years-or she should be. She hasn't always been the most compliant about taking her medication."

"She didn't include any medications on her history when we did the screening," Caleb replied. "To be honest, it probably would have precluded using her as a donor."

"Is that what caused Deacon's heart to stop?" Rayna asked, her face going white.

Caleb shook his head. "No, I mean, we screened her-she didn't have any evidence of medication in her system."

"And when did you do that screening?" Scarlett asked.

"Last week, when she came back to town," Caleb answered. "We never got that far the first time."

Scarlett looked down at her hands, then over at Rayna. "That's why she said no-she must have known. So she stopped taking her medication until she could test clean."

Rayna shook her head. "Oh, Beverly."

"It's likely that the surgery and the change in the size of her liver is also having an impact," Caleb said. "If it's a hormone imbalance, it would be more pronounced in this situation."

"Oh, it's pronounced, alright," Scarlett said, letting out a big sigh. "I mean, I think I can trust that no one in this hospital is going to let her pack Deacon up in her car and drive him back to Natchez, cause that's what she was planning when I left her."

"I'm so sorry, honey," Rayna said, reaching over to take Scarlett's hand.

"Is this what Gunnar meant?" Caleb asked.

"What about Gunnar?" Scarlett replied.

Caleb shook his head. "He just said something the other night about your mom...I just…"

"We'll talk about it later," Scarlett interrupted. She looked over at Rayna. "So, I guess we probably need to do something about her."

Rayna nodded. "My attorney is coming up. I was going to ask for an injunction, but I don't know...honey, what if we had her declared, I don't know-something so that you are the one making decisions for your uncle."

Scarlett nodded. "She's not making any sense and I'm not letting her hurt Deacon, no matter what."

"Or what?"

Scarlett and Rayna turned to find Beverly standing in the door.

"You all plotting against me?" Beverly asked. "Cause believe me-you don't want to cross me."

Caleb's beeper started to go off. He looked down at it.

"I have to go-there's a code."

"Where?" Scarlett asked, standing up.

"It's Deacon."

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N - Many thanks to everyone who has been reading and following the story. Many thanks to Beth Pryor for her extra eyes and to everyone who has left such lovely reviews. I deeply appreciate them. - Rachel**_

* * *

Scarlett, Rayna and Beverly all followed Caleb as he rushed up to Deacon's floor. As they got to the room the code team was leaving.

"Deacon!" Rayna called as she pushed past the young doctor to get into the room.

"It was time for him to wake up, so we could leave," Beverly said as she joined Rayna near the bed.

"What did you do, Bev?" Rayna asked, turning to Deacon's sister.

"He was never going to wake up with that thing breathing for him," Beverly replied. "So I turned it off."

"You turned it off!" Rayna shouted. She moved toward Beverly. "How could you do this. How could you…"

"Ray…"

She turned at the sound of her name to see Deacon looking at her, his face pale and his eyes barely open, but he wasn't dead...he was alive. She moved over to the bed and put her arms around him, her head buried in his chest.

"Oh god, Deacon," was all she could manage.

Dr. Rand stepped in the room with Scarlett following. "Rayna, can you give me a moment to examine Deacon?"

Rayna kissed Deacon quickly on the lips and then stepped back as the doctor began to examine him. She turned at the sound of Beverly's voice, now ranting at Scarlett.

"Mama," Scarlett pleaded with her. Beverly was now raising her hands to strike her daughter.

"Bev!" Rayna called out as Deacon's sister turned from her daughter to Rayna. She raised her hand again when a nurse called for her. She turned and a second nurse pressed an injection into Beverly.

"What did you give me!" she called out as she sank back into the wheelchair they had brought into the hall.

"Let's help you back to you room," the nurse said as they began to push a now quietly sobbing Beverly back down toward the surgical ward.

Rayna turned to find Scarlett on the floor, sitting against the wall.

"Are you okay, honey?" she asked, dropping down next to Deacon's niece.

"I thought-I thought she was better," Scarlett said quietly. "I shouldn't have left her alone with him. I knew she wasn't okay-but I also, I just…"

"You didn't want to be here, either," Rayna answered. "It's okay, honey. It looks like she didn't do any harm."

"This time," Scarlett replied. "And now she's gonna be back in some hospital, when you said she was doing so well and working in a diner, playing her music."

"Your mom needs to be responsible for herself," Rayna replied. "We can help her and we will, but ultimately, she is the one who needs to make those good decisions for herself."

"Rayna. Scarlett," Caleb said as he walked out of Deacon's room. "You can come in now."

They walked into the room to find Deacon lying in his bed, the tube in his mouth replaced by a cannula in his nose. Rayna walked over, leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

"It's good to see your eyes, babe," she said as she stood back up.

Deacon's mouth moved into a small smile and he nodded slowly.

"He's still pretty weak," Caleb said, "but as you can see, he is awake and breathing on his own. And that's a very good thing."

"Did she hurt him? My mama?" Scarlett asked.

Caleb shrugged. "We would not recommend this process of removing a patient from ventilation, but your uncle is strong and it doesn't seem to have adversely affected him."

Deacon reached his hand out to Scarlett. She moved over and took it in her own hand.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Deacon. I should have known she wasn't doin' so good," Scarlett apologized. Deacon shook his head and tightened his hand around hers.

"I want to keep Deacon here in the ICU for at least 12 more hours so we can keep monitoring him. They checked blood levels again this morning and the liver is doing really well. We need to get the cardiologist back in here and get the heart checked out and I want respiratory to make sure you're getting all the oxygen you need, but all in all, you're doing pretty well, Deacon."

Rayna moved to his other side and took his free hand. "And maybe we can get some paperwork drawn up about medical decisions to have him sign?"

"What?" Deacon whispered.

Rayna smiled at him. "We'll talk about it later. Don't worry, babe."

"Maddie?"

"Absolutely. I'm gonna call my sister and get those girls up here to see you. They've been so worried. We've all been so worried."

She kissed Deacon again and followed Caleb out into the hall.

"So, is he really okay?" she asked.

He shrugged. "He's stable and he's strong, but I wouldn't say he's out of the woods. I'm going to go to my office right now to get the power of attorney documents. Let's at least get that signed now while he's able."

"Because he might not be later?" Rayna asked, her voice dropping.

Caleb put his hand on her arm. "I just feel foolish we missed it before the surgery. Let's not take our chances again."

* * *

"Mom?"

Rayna stepped forward toward the door to the hospital where Tandy had dropped her eldest off.

"Is it Dad? Has something happened?" Maddie asked.

"Come with me, sweet girl," Rayna said as she held out her hand. "Let's go up and check on him."

She hadn't meant to unduly worry Maddie, but she also had wanted to save the surprise that Deacon was awake until Maddie was there in the room. They rode the elevator up in silence.

"Is he okay?" Maddie asked as they walked down to the room, her steps slowing slightly.

"Yes, he's okay," Rayna replied as she opened the door.

As Maddie stepped into the room, Deacon turned his head, smiled at her and held out his arm. She ran from Rayna's side to his, throwing her arms around him.

"Dad!" she exclaimed. "I was so worried."

"No worries," Deacon rasped and patted the bed next to him. Maddie looked over at her mom and Rayna nodded. She dropped the rail and crawled onto the bed next to him.

"I was so worried," she repeated. "I just found you. I was so afraid I'd lose you now." Maddie put her head on Deacon's chest and began to cry.

Rayna moved over and put her hand on Maddie's back. "It's okay, baby. It's okay." She continued to soothe Maddie as the tears began to flow from her own eyes. She looked down to find Deacon crying as well. She let out a short laugh. "Well, we're kind of a sorry mess!"

Deacon also tried to laugh, then coughed. Rayna reached for the glass of ice chips the nurse had brought in earlier. She moved to the other side of the bed and helped Deacon sit up slightly so she could give him some.

"Thanks," he said, his voice rough.

"Hon, please don't talk. I know it's hard, but you really need to take it easy with your voice," Rayna said as she lifted the spoonful of ice chips to his lips. "As you might remember, I know what I'm talking about."

Deacon nodded and put a finger to his lips. He leaned down and kissed Maddie on the head and rubbed his hand across her hair, smoothing it down to comfort her. She looked up at him and smiled, her tears disappearing now.

"I'm just so glad you're here and back," Maddie said.

"Me too," Deacon mouthed to her.

* * *

Rayna pulled the blanket up over her body. Maddie had gone home with Tandy and Daphne. Without too many questions, Deacon had signed the medical power of attorney. She should feel relieved, but for some reason, sleep was very slow to come.

"Ray?"

She looked up to see Deacon holding his hand out to her. He had been asleep earlier when she had come back in and had not wanted to disturb him. She got up and came over to the bed. Deacon awkwardly slid over toward the edge of the bed. She pulled the bed rail down and crawled into bed next to him.

"Don't go away again," she said quietly, her head against his shoulder. "You made me an offer and if you remember, I accepted. I want to marry you, Deacon. I want to start the life we've always dreamed of having-we deserve that life, Deacon."

He slid his hand in hers and tightened his grip around her fingers. He tried to adjust his position in bed and groaned.

"What happened?" he asked. "Hospital?"

Rayna sat up so she could see his face. "Do you remember why you're here?" she asked.

Deacon shook his head. "Hurts," he said as he moved his hands down toward his abdomen.

"You had your transplant. Bev donated part of her liver to you. Do you remember that?"

Deacon shook his head slowly, then stopped and nodded. "Yes, remember that." He frowned. "Is she okay?"

Rayna nodded her head. "For the most part. Physically."

"What else?" Deacon asked.

Rayna reached over and took his hand in hers. "Hon, your heart stopped during the surgery. They had to resuscitate you and we've been keeping you asleep to help you recover."

Deacon turned his head away from her. She reached for him, seeing that he was crying.

"It's okay. You're okay. You've been doing great. It's just...it's just going to take a while."

"Scared," Deacon said slowly. "Scared you?"

Rayna nodded. "Yes. Definitely scared me. But, you're getting better and that is the best medicine in the world for me."

"Stay," Deacon replied.

Rayna laid back down next to him, her body hugging his. "Forever."

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Rayna looked down at her phone and sighed.

"Which one now?" Deacon asked from his bed. "Juliette? Teddy? Beverly? I know that sigh, Ray and someone's about got on your last nerve."

Rayna looked over from her chair and smiled. "No, it's Tandy. I think she is trying to break it to me that she needs to head back to California."

Deacon pressed his hand down and moved to sit up a bit more, grunting with the effort. "C'mere, babe. It's too far with you way over there."

Rayna crossed over and sat down at the foot of his bed. "You doing okay? You want me to call the nurse for something?"

Deacon shook his head. "It's just gonna be tender for a while. They all said that. It's only been a little more than a week…"

Rayna reached out and took his hand. "And this one might go slower than you expected, so take care of yourself, babe."

Deacon pulled her closer to him. "I will. I promise."

She moved closer and let him pull her into his arms, her lips meeting his without words. They stayed there until a knock at the door had Rayna drop back toward the foot of the bed.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt…" Caleb Rand said as he walked into the room.

Rayna blushed slightly but Deacon just grinned.

"Hey, I'm a man who cheated death," he said. "Plus, the way people are walking in and out of here and doing things to a person, it's not like I have any semblance of shame left."

"Well, I can probably do something about that," the doctor replied. "Your incision is healing well, your cardiac enzymes are all within normal levels and the liver is showing no signs of rejection, so at this point, I think the best thing to do is to discharge you and let you go home."

"Really?" Rayna asked. "I mean, today?"

Caleb nodded. "I'm going to have the transplant nurse come in and do a final education session, but yes, you can be released this afternoon. I'm going to need to see you again in a couple of days-we still have a lot of healing to do, but the team has all agreed that there's no need for you to stay in the hospital."

Rayna raised her hand to her mouth, surprised to find tears filling her eyes. After everything that had happened, it had never felt like this day would come.

"Thanks, doc," Deacon said. "I mean it-thanks for being there with us through all of it."

Caleb nodded, holding Deacon's chart tight to his chest. "I'm glad it all worked out. I really am. So, I'll go see where they are with getting the appointments set, but I'm thinking we should have everything ready to go for you in maybe four hours of so."

As he turned to leave, Rayna got up and followed him out of the room into the hallway.

"So, he's really ready to go home?" she asked as she pulled the door closed behind her.

"He's stable and I think that getting out of the hospital would be good for him," Caleb replied.

Rayna looked over at the closed door. "I know you've only known him for a few months, and those were under pretty intense circumstances, but does he seem okay?"

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked.

Rayna looked up, shaking her head. "I don't know-he's just-he's been very congenial, optimistic and not too terribly worried about anything. He hasn't asked much about Bev, hasn't commented about Scarlett not being around, doesn't seem very engaged with the girls, he just...he isn't Deacon."

Caleb nodded. "I'd noticed a pretty significant change from his pre-surgical attitude, but I didn't know if that's just how he was because of the illness."

"Is it the heart incident?" Rayna asked, her face covered with concern. "The transplant?"

"At this point, it's hard for us to know," Caleb answered. "But it's definitely something we're going to monitor. And as I said, getting him home in more comfortable surroundings may make all the difference."

Caleb turned and walked a few steps, then stopped and turned back. "Have you heard from Scarlett?"

Rayna shook her head. "Not since she got back to Mississippi with Beverly. I've called, but have only gotten her voice mail. Have you?"

"No," Caleb replied. "I can't decide if that means I should go down there or just stay here and wait until she's ready to let me in."

Rayna reached out and put her hand on his arm. "If there's one thing I've learned all these years, it's that sometimes it's better to let a Claybourne come to you. She'll call you when she's ready."

* * *

Scarlett pulled off the visitor's badge as she walked back to her car. She opened the door and slid into the driver's seat and sighed.

"Did you get to see her?" Gunnar asked.

Scarlett shook her head. "As I was reminded once again, patients do reserve the right to refuse to see a visitor-even if it's that patient's daughter."

Gunnar reached over and slipped his arm behind her, pulling her awkwardly into a hug. "She still knows you were here and that you came, even if she can't get that all you wanted to do was take care of her and get her well."

"She's never gonna forgive me," Scarlett said, her face tucked into Gunnar's shoulder. Her body started to shake as the tears came once again.

Gunnar held her, waiting until the tears subsided.

"So, give it another day?" he asked.

Scarlett sat up and shook her head. "Rayna texted today. Deacon's goin' home. Guess that maybe we should head back to Nashville. Might be time for us all to get back to our lives."

"Might be," Gunnar replied. Except at this point he had no idea what that exactly looked like.

* * *

Deacon eased back against the pillows and let out a sigh. He looked over at the closed door. Rayna wasn't very subtle about her need to talk to the doctor about him. He eased his t-shirt up and looked once again at the bandages covering the incision that went across most of his abdomen in a "Y" shape.

He had tried to downplay it, again, but the pain was more intense than he'd expected. And he felt weak. Even the weeks before the surgery when he'd had more symptoms, he'd never felt as weak as he did now.

He reached for the glass on the table next to him, gasping as another wave of pain went across him.

It hurt. He hurt. He knew that he should care about what was going on with Bev, ask something about Scarlett or even be somewhat interested in whatever thing Teddy had gotten himself tied up in now, but he couldn't.

Right now, it was all he could do to keep breathing and not scream. And anyway, he was alive. And right now, that had to be enough for all of them.

Maybe getting home would be better, maybe things would start to feel more normal.

He looked over at the wardrobe. He should get up and start putting somethings in there, get things packed up.

He raised the head of the bed until the pain in his abdomen got too bad, then pulled the blankets back so he could get his legs free. They'd had him up walking the last few days, up and down the hallway. With a walker at first, then just the IV pole. Since yesterday he'd been free of the tubes and wires.

He swung his legs down toward the floor and waited for the next wave of pain to subside. He felt a little dizzy at the movement. Slowly he eased off the bed, holding onto the side rail for balance and stood up.

Why anyone thought he was well enough to leave this place was beyond him. But Rayna had looked so happy at the thought of going home. He took in a breath and stepped forward. One foot in front of another. And everything would be fine. Eventually.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N - I'm trying to wrap this up before season 4 starts (woo hoo!). The story has taken some turns from where I originally planned, so thanks for sticking with it. I do want to warn you that this chapter is not for the queasy. Thanks for reading! - RW_

* * *

"Okay, so does anyone have any other questions?" the transplant nurse asked as she slid a sheaf of papers across the table toward Deacon and Rayna.

Rayna looked down at the notes that she'd been taking. "I don't think so. I've got the medication list here that we're going to pick up at the pharmacy, the schedule, the restrictions...I think I have everything."

"Let's go over the restriction list one more time just so I know you have it down," the nurse replied.

"No grapefruit," Deacon responded.

Rayna laughed. "Well, that's not going to be a big change in your life."

"No over the counter medications unless we've called and cleared it," Deacon added.

"That one's really important. A lot of the stuff you used to commonly use-Advil, Tylenol, etc., they all can cause complications for the liver, so we need to be really careful about that."

"No driving for at least two months," Rayna said as she put her arm around Deacon. "I guess Maddie's getting her license just in time."

Deacon chuckled and shook his head. "I'm not sure that now is the time to start taking my life into her hands."

"If you have a fever, any major vomiting, anything like that, you have to call us, come to the ER, get it checked out-we are all very committed to you living a long life with your new liver. So, please take good care of it."

Deacon nodded. "I will. It came to me at a great cost."

Rayna tightened her arm around him. To be honest, that was about the most he'd talked about Bev. When she'd told him about his sister's break-down, he'd just shut her down.

"Okay, well, looks like we've got everything covered but if you have any questions at all, please call us. That's what we're here for," the nurse said as she stood up and put her bag over her shoulder.

* * *

"I can take your bag, Deacon," Daphne said as the orderly helped Deacon into the wheelchair to head down to the car.

"Thanks, honey," Deacon said. "You got those flowers, Maddie?"

Maddie nodded and tightened her hold on the bouquet of flowers that had come from the Bluebird earlier that week.

"We're gonna miss you, Deacon," the floor nurse said as she held the door open.

Deacon smiled. "Thanks for everything, but I'm more than ready to be home with my family."

* * *

After dinner Rayna helped Deacon up the steps and into their room. She tightened her arm around him as he began to lean on her more heavily, their steps slow as they got to their room.

"You doing okay, babe?" she asked as he lowered himself to the bed.

Deacon nodded, then leaned slowly back again the pillow moaning slightly as his body straightened out.

"Let's put another one back there," Rayna said as she slid another pillow behind his head. "If you remember, you weren't exactly laying flat in the hospital bed."

"Yeah, but at some point, I'm hoping to be able to straighten back out again," Deacon replied.

"Maybe not tonight?" Rayna asked.

"Yeah," Deacon replied as he eased back against the pillows.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" she asked again. "You didn't eat much at dinner and you're pretty quiet."

"I'm just tired, Ray," he responded. "It'll be better tomorrow."

She reached down and pulled his boots off. "And the day after that will be better, too."

"Did Scarlett call again?" he asked. "Where did she say she was last time?"

"She said they were south of Memphis a couple hours. I think they were planning to spend the night and get here tomorrow by noon."

"And Gunnar's with her?"

Rayna shrugged and smiled at him. "I didn't know it before, but that's what she said when she called."

"I'm glad she hasn't been down there by herself, I guess. You think Caleb knows?" Deacon asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Rayna replied as she slipped her blouse off and stood in front of him in her bra. "You want me to help you get those jeans off?"

"You trying to kill me?" he responded, a smile crossing his face.

She laughed. "No, there wasn't a rule like the no driving, but I'm looking at you buddy and you're in no shape-no shape at all."

She helped him ease his jeans off and then headed into the bathroom to take off her make-up. She knew if they could just get him home, that her Deacon would return to her...and so far she was right.

* * *

Rayna woke up to the sound of retching. She looked over. Deacon's side of the bed was empty. She looked at the clock, it was just after 2 am.

"Deacon?" she called out as she turned on the light next to the bed. She could hear him in the bathroom.

She got up and hurried in to find him collapsed on the floor in front of the toilet.

"Deacon!" she cried as she went to him and knelt down next to him. "How long has this been going on?"

He looked up at her and shook his head, unable to talk.

"I'm going to go get the girls. We need to go back to the hospital."

"No," Deacon managed.

"We're going, Deacon," she replied.

* * *

"What happened?" Maddie asked as Rayna woke her from a deep sleep.

"Your dad's sick. I need you to help me get him out to the car and then I need you to stay here with Daphne," Rayna explained.

"I want to go with you," Maddie responded. "I want to be there if something's wrong."

Rayna paused. "Okay, go wake your sister and get dressed. I'm going to see if I can get him up."

Rayna returned to the bathroom. Deacon had stopped vomiting, but he lay spent on the floor of the bathroom. She brought a towel over to try to clean him up a bit.

"Sorry," he said, panting slightly.

She shook her head as she gently wiped his face. "It's okay. We're just gonna take you back to the ER and let them help you feel better."

"Mom?"

She looked up to see the girls standing at the bathroom door. "Daphne, can you go get another t-shirt for Deacon? There's some long-sleeved ones in the second drawer in his dresser. Maddie, come here, honey and help me."

Maddie came in and together they helped Deacon up off the floor. Maddie pulled over the chair from Rayna's dressing table and they lowered him back down so he was sitting on the chair.

"Is this...are you in rejection?" Maddie asked, her face filled with fear.

"We don't know, honey," Rayna replied. "That's why we're going to go to the hospital and get it checked out. I'm going to call them and let them know we're headed in."

She left Maddie in the bathroom and headed back into the bedroom to find her phone.

"Is this one okay, Mommy?" Daphne asked, holding up a gray henley.

Rayna crossed over to her and took Daphne in her arms. "It's perfect, honey. Go take it to your sister."

"Is Deacon going to be okay?" Daphne asked.

Rayna looked down at her young daughter and nodded. "I hope so, baby. Go take in the shirt and put his other one in the hamper. I'm going to call the doctor quick."

* * *

Rayna reached for her phone and scrolled for the number she'd stored in it only a few hours earlier when they'd left the hospital.

"Transplant Resource line," the woman answered a moment later.

Rayna began to explain about Deacon's sudden illness.

"Is he rejecting the liver?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.

"We won't know until we examine him. It could be and if it is, we'll treat it. It could also be a reaction to a medication, an infection-we do need him to come in so we can figure it out. Are you able to transport him or do you want me to send an ambulance?"

Rayna paused. She wasn't sure that she and Maddie could get Deacon back downstairs, but she also knew that the last thing he would want would be a ride in an ambulance.

"I think we can just drive in. I'm nearby."

"I'll have a team ready to meet you at the ER," the nurse replied.

Rayna hung up the phone to find Deacon walking out of the bathroom, leaning heavily on Maddie, but also resting an arm on Daphne's shoulder. The girls had gotten the clean shirt on him before bringing him out.

"You think you can make it into the hospital?" she asked.

He nodded. "I think I can make it-I don't think there's anything else left to come out."

"Can we get down the steps or do you need me to call someone to help us?" she followed up.

"If you and Maddie help me, we can do it," he responded.

"Go find my purse, Daphne," Rayna instructed as she came over and took Deacon's elbow. "Okay, we're going to take it slow, okay?"

Deacon and Maddie nodded.

* * *

Rayna turned the Escalade into the driveway at the Emergency Room. She looked back where Deacon lay on the backseat, his head in Maddie's lap. Poor girl, he'd gotten sick on her about halfway there.

"Daphne, can you go let them know we're here?" she asked.

Daphne hopped out of the front seat and headed toward the door. It pained her to realize how much she was relying on both of her young girls.

"You guys okay back there?" she asked.

"I think I owe Maddie a trip to Two Old Hippies," Deacon replied, trying to joke. "Sorry about your shirt, honey."

"It's okay, Dad," Maddie assured him.

Rayna looked back at them, a brief wave of relief washing over her. If Deacon was teasing their daughter, then maybe it wasn't as serious as it had seemed when she found him on the floor of the bathroom.

"Oh!" Deacon exclaimed as he got sick again. Maddie held up the bowl, trying to help him.

Rayna hopped out of the car and moved to open the back door. She looked up to see Daphne returning with an orderly pushing a wheelchair.

"Thank you," she said as the orderly helped Deacon from the car. She paused for a moment at the vehicle. "You okay, honey?" she asked Maddie.

"I'm fine," her daughter answered. "Just go, Mom."

Rayna turned and headed toward the hospital. After everything, she couldn't lose Deacon now.

* * *

Rayna stood at the door watching as they put an IV into Deacon's arm. He had gotten sick two more times, but now was just retching, his stomach empty. It was so hard to see him like this.

"Rayna?"

She turned to find Caleb Rand.

"Is it rejection?" she asked. "It just happened so fast."

"I have a couple more tests to run, but from the onset and intensity, I think it's more likely to be a drug reaction. We did change a couple medications before we sent him home."

"So it isn't rejection?" Rayna asked again, her arms crossed in front of her body.

"Like I said, we do need to run a couple more tests, but you can go in with him. We're giving him some fluids and some medication to help with the nausea. I'll be back in as soon as I get the results."

Rayna thanked the doctor and headed into Deacon's room. "You feeling any better?" she asked as she sat down on the bed next to him and brushed her hand along the side of his face.

"Yeah," Deacon said, his voice quiet. "Sorry for getting so sick and...oh, poor Maddie."

Rayna smiled. "That was definitely a sign of love, babe."

"Where is she? Where's Daphne?" Deacon asked.

Rayna took his hand in hers. "They're in the waiting room, ready to come in and see you. I think one of the nurses went to find Maddie something to change into-I'm pretty sure you ruined that outfit completely."

Deacon closed his eyes.

"It's okay, babe. You're sick," Rayna comforted him.

He opened up his eyes and fixed them on her. "I'm sick of being sick, Ray. I just wanted to come home, sleep in our bed and get back to our lives."

"I know, hon. And you're gonna do that. It's just not gonna happen tomorrow or even the day after that. This is gonna take a while and you need to be patient and I think we both know, that's not your strong suit."

"What if I'm losin' this liver?" Deacon said quietly.

Rayna raised his hand up to her lips and kissed them lightly. "I talked to Caleb and he has to run some tests, but he didn't think that was what was going on. And if you are starting to reject, then there are things they can do to stop it. I need you to have faith, Deacon. I need you to believe this is all going to work out."

"I'm not the most optimistic person," Deacon started.

"Truer words were never spoken," Rayna replied. "But maybe this is a chance to start over, do it again a different way."

They looked up at the sound of a knock on the door. The door pushed open to reveal Maddie in a pair of hospital scrubs, Daphne and Scarlett trailing in behind them.

"Hey," Rayna said, holding out her arm to welcome them into the room.

"How are you feeling?" Maddie asked as she came up on the other side of the bed and reached for her dad's free hand.

"I'm feelin' a lot better, honey. Again, sorry for getting so sick on you and scaring everybody."

"It's okay, Dad," Maddie replied.

"You're here, Scarlett," Deacon added as she came up next to Rayna. "And Daphne-thanks for helping out so much tonight, honey."

Daphne joined her sister on the opposite side of the bed.

"I got Rayna's text and came straight here," Scarlett said. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"I am," Deacon replied. "How's your momma?"

Scarlett shook her head. "I'll talk to you about that later," she said.

"I think we should all give Deacon some time to rest," Rayna said. "Caleb said they'd probably keep you here for the night for observation but hopefully you can go home in the morning."

"You should all go home and get some sleep," Deacon answered. "You've already spent too many nights here with me."

* * *

Scarlett watched as Rayna and the girls reluctantly left, Deacon insisting once again that they go home to sleep.

"You really feeling okay?" Scarlett said after they left.

"Better than when I was on the floor in Rayna's bathroom puking my guts out," Deacon replied. "I mean, I've done that when I've been on a bad bender, but never with this many stitches in my gut."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," Scarlett responded.

"How's your momma?" Deacon asked. "I can't imagine that was too easy for you."

Scarlett sat down on the end of the bed. "No. She-well, she's like she used to be. I had to take her back to the Farm. Course she wouldn't see me."

"What did we do," Deacon replied. "We never should have pushed her like that."

"Don't say that," Scarlett shot back. "Don't ever say that."

"I can't help feel that I'm responsible, making her feel like she had to like I did."

"We both did. And Rayna. And I talked to the doctor-it happened 'cause she wasn't taking care of herself anymore. You saw her last year when she came to see me on tour. She isn't in her right mind, Deacon. And we can't be responsible for that anymore."

"I don't know, Scar," Deacon started. "You think so?"

Scarlett nodded. "Gunnar and me...we talked a lot, first on the way down to Mississippi, and while we were there and comin' home...at some point, Deacon, we just have to acknowledge what her illness is."

"I can't help thinking I took advantage of her," Deacon admitted. "And I feel like that was wrong."

"You got to get over that," Scarlett answered. "You've got to find a way to be okay with what she did giving you that liver and what the reality is now and move on. Don't waste her gift by not wanting to live."

There was a knock at the door and it opened.

"Deacon, I have good news," Caleb Rand started, then stopped two steps into the room. "Scarlett?"

"What's the news?" she asked, interrupting him.

The doctor looked down at his chart. "You're not rejecting the liver. It was a reaction to one of the new medications."

"Can I go home?" Deacon asked.

"I'd just as soon you stay the night, let us get a few more fluids into you so you're not dehydrated, but you can go first thing in the morning."

"I'll go call Rayna and let her know," Scarlett said, standing up and heading toward the door.

"Scarlett," the doctor began again.

She stopped at the door and smiled at him. "Of course,Caleb. Just let me make that call and I'll be back so we can talk."

He watched as she left, then turned back to Deacon. "I'm sorry, maybe this is why they advise you to keep work and private separate."

"Just give her some space," Deacon replied. "Stuff with her momma-it's always been hard and if she didn't tell you about it before, well it's hard."

"That's all any of you will say," Caleb replied. "You say it, Rayna said it, even Gunnar warned me, but Scarlett-she always just smiles and then just moves on past it."

"Be patient," Deacon advised.

"Thanks," Caleb responded. "You need anything else?"

"I'm good," Deacon replied. "And thanks for understanding about my niece."

* * *

Caleb walked out of Deacon's room looking down the hall each way for Scarlett. He rounded the corner headed back toward the elevators when he found her.

In the arms of Gunnar Scott.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

**_A/N - So, here we are...final chapter. Thanks for everyone who was reading this summer. My special thanks to my beta Beth Pryor and my main sounding board, piratewench78. I appreciate your feedback and friendship. And to all who left reviews-you feed the soul! Thank you, thank you, thank you._**

* * *

Deacon reached down and put his fingers around the neck of the guitar, forming a G chord. His other hand, grasping the pick, ran across the strings as he looked down at the familiar instrument back where it belonged.

He moved to the next chord and looked up and smiled at Rayna, the baby cradled in her arms. Nothing ever...ever felt so right.

* * *

A year earlier

"Okay, shall we call this welcome home take two?" Rayna asked as she pulled into the driveway.

Deacon chuckled and shook his head. "I guess. Man, I never want to feel like that again."

Rayna leaned over and kissed him. "I think everyone in this family would agree with you. Okay, let's get you back in the house and try this again."

Rayna waited as Deacon eased himself from the truck, back home less than 48 hours since they'd left for the ER to treat his drug reaction. The offending medication had been identified and flushed from his system.

Deacon paused as he rounded the vehicle. "You know, stuff like that can happen again."

Rayna nodded. "Of course, babe, but weren't we going to focus on a little optimism for at least the next couple days?"

Deacon chuckled. "It's always good to try something new."

Rayna walked up to the kitchen door and opened it. "The girls are at school. You want to take a nap?"

"Actually, if you don't mind, I was thinking I might do some writing," Deacon answered. "Is that offer still open to record an album with you?"

Rayna put her hand up along the edge of his face, slid her other arm around his back and pulled him into an embrace. "I'd love nothing more, Deacon Claybourne."

* * *

Rayna came into the music room, easing the door closed behind her. "That sounds great, babe."

Deacon looked up. "Thanks. I just feel like I've got a lot more to say all of a sudden."

"You need some help?"

Deacon slipped off his glasses and set them down on the table in front of him. "Actually, I need to go see Scarlett."

"Everything okay?" Rayna asked as she sat down next to Deacon on the couch.

"I can't tell. It's been three months since she moved Beverly back to Mississippi. I've been asking her if she wants to go down there, saying I'd go with her but she hasn't wanted to go. And now she and Gunnar getting ready to go out on the road…"

"Is she still staying at your house?" Rayna asked. "Did she ever tell you what happened with Caleb?"

Deacon shook his head and took her hand in his. "No, she's been real quiet about that. I'm worried about her, Rayna."

"Go, talk to her-make her tell you what's going on," Rayna encouraged him. "And then come back here so we can write some songs."

"Thanks, babe," Deacon replied. "What do you have on your schedule today."

Rayna sighed. "Supposedly a settlement conference with Juliette. If she shows up."

Deacon turned toward her and frowned. "I'm sorry about all of this, babe. This all, it just doesn't sound like Juliette. I mean, I know she can be difficult, but this doesn't seem right."

"I agree," Rayna replied. "And I've spoken to Avery and I know she's been struggling since the baby, that they've separated, but Deacon, I can't even get her to talk to me. I'm not sure how to help her."

Deacon took her hand in his. "I think you do what's necessary to protect you and yours-like Avery's doing with the baby and we just all wait and hope that she can come back to us, healthy and whole. But just like it took for me, with my addiction and struggles, she's got to want to get well, Ray. We can be there for her but if she doesn't want our help…"

Rayna laid her head down on his shoulder. "I know. I know, but it's just so hard. And complicated because it's Luke. And Jeff Fordham. Honestly, if I never saw that man again..."

"Go to your appointment. Work things out," Deacon advised. "How about I pick up some barbecue on the way back for dinner tonight."

Rayna shook her head. "Maybe not tonight-my stomach's not quite feeling right. Raincheck?"

Deacon leaned in and kissed her. "Of course. But after that, well, I think I'm feeling back to myself again."

* * *

Deacon pulled up in front of his house. As much as he loved being with Rayna and the girls, he missed his little East Nashville house and neighborhood.

He got out of the truck and waved to his neighbor across the street, then headed toward the house. He knocked, then slid his key into the lock and let himself into the house.

"Hey!" Scarlett called out from the kitchen where she was pouring a cup of coffee. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

Deacon set down his bag and crossed over to his niece. "How you doin', girl?"

Scarlett smiled and came over to give him a hug. "I'm good. Enjoying sleeping in my own bed for a couple of nights."

"How's the tour?" he asked as he stepped back, taking the cup of coffee she offered.

"It's good," she replied.

"And Gunnar?"

Scarlett smiled. "He's good too."

Deacon smiled back at her. "So he is...good, that is."

"Yep," Scarlett said, her smile growing even larger.

"Well, look at us," Deacon replied. "Happy, loved, healthy. It's kind of amazing what a difference a year can make."

* * *

Deacon sat watching Daphne, Maddie, and Rayna as they laughed and discussed their day. He felt like the luckiest man on the face of earth.

After they'd finished cleaning up the dishes from the meal, Rayna leaned into him.

"You want to go watch a movie with the girls?" she asked, her hand tracing down the front of his flannel shirt.

"You think they'd miss us if we didn't?" he replied.

She shook her head and wordlessly held her hand out to take his. Slipping from the kitchen past the family room where the girls sat, they moved quickly up the stairs.

"I missed this," Rayna said as she unbuttoned his shirt. It wasn't the first time they'd been together since the surgery, but this was the first time it had felt like old times.

"We've waited way too long, babe," Deacon replied as he moved in and nipped the soft, sweet skin on her neck.

She slid back on the bed and he followed her, his body molding next to hers.

Later, wrapped in her arms, she sighed.

"Penny for your thoughts, babe," Deacon said, his fingers tracing down the soft skin on her arm.

"I want to finish our album," she said. "I want to get out on the road."

"Can we do something first?" Deacon asked.

She rolled onto her side so that she was facing him. "What?"

"I love being at home with you, Ray and here, with the girls, but it's not my home. I think I realized that today when I was back at my place."

"We can't move there, Deacon," Rayna responded.

"Oh, I know," he replied. "I just think it would be good for us to have a place that's ours. I'm sure you burned a ton of sage or something like that, but I don't really treasure the thought of spending the rest of my days sleeping in a room you used to share with Teddy and Luke. It's just...it's got a lot of baggage."

Rayna nodded and stayed quiet for a moment. "I've been thinking the same thing, but then I worried with everything going on with Teddy, that it would be too hard for the girls, but now that we've been together for a while, I think they would be okay with it. But there's one thing I want to do, too."

"What?" Deacon asked.

"Get married," Rayna replied.

"Now?" Deacon asked. He took her hand in his, weaving their fingers together.

"Well, not this instant," Rayna replied. "I mean, I'd want to do my hair and you'll need to wear pants. But yeah-I think finding our own home and finishing the album and going on tour are all things I want to do, but first I want to get married. Cause I loved making promises to one another before your surgery, but I want to be married to you, Deacon Claybourne."

"You gonna change your name?" he teased.

"Stop it," she replied, laughing. "I want to do it soon, Deacon. I don't want to wait any longer."

"Okay," Deacon replied. "Then let's do it." He got up out of bed and went over to the dresser. "But if we're going to do it, then you need this."

He held out the ring to her. The one he had first given her so many years ago. The one she'd kept for so long. The one he'd tried to give to her again when she chose Luke.

"You don't think we should try a new one?" she asked as he stood there, the ring balancing between his fingers.

"No, I think this ring knows the story of us. It knows what we've done to get here and no matter what happened, it's still here, so this is the ring I want to give you."

She took it from his fingers and slipped it onto her own, looked up and smiled at him.

"It's never going anywhere else.

* * *

The ceremony was simple. Rayna had wanted it at the cabin and so it was. The girls and Tandy, Bucky, Gunnar and Scarlett-very simple.

Rayna and Deacon stood in Bucky-who had been ordained online earlier that week-and exchanged their vows. After they made their promised, Gunnar and Scarlett came forward to sing. Rayna had requested one of their earliest songs. They rarely played it on tour, but she said she could never hear it without thinking of Deacon and how much he meant to her.

 _There's no music, no confetti  
_ _Crowds don't cheer, and bells don't ring  
_ _But you'll know it, I can guarantee  
_ _When the right one comes along_

 _What they're thinkin', what you're feelin,  
_ _You no longer have to guess  
_ _All those questions are finally put to rest  
_ _When the right one comes along_

Everything in their lives had brought them to this moment, to pledging their love in front of their family and friends. To making the promise to be together for the rest of their lives. No matter what.

* * *

"This feels very country western song," Rayna said as she walked into the bedroom at the back of their tour bus and climbed into bed with Deacon.

"What? A honeymoon on tour with our kids in bunk beds outside our room?" Deacon responded as he rolled on his side to make a space for her.

"When I told Bucky I wanted to get back out there, I had no idea that he'd do it quite so fast."

"Yeah," Deacon replied, then was quiet.

"What's the matter, babe?"

"I was thinking about how beautiful everything was yesterday and then started feeling bad."

"Cause Bev wasn't there?" Rayna asked.

Deacon slid his arm around Rayna's waist and pulled her closed. "No, I mean, maybe it's really bad of me to say, but I didn't miss her being there-she's been gone for a lot of my life, a lot of my big moments. No, I actually was feeling bad that Juliette wasn't there."

Rayna was silent. She knew that Deacon had felt bad about Juliette's disappearance from their lives, but he never really mentioned it.

"I tried to call her, see if she would come. I mean, even with everything that's been going on between you two, she's my friend and she's been there for me when very few other folks were. And now, when she's needed me-I've not been there for her. And I wish that wasn't the case."

"I know, babe," Rayna responded. "And I've been trying, too-I mean, that girl drives me crazy, but I can tell she's hurting. Honestly, I thought the lawsuit would bring her to her senses, but she just cut Highway 65 a check and settled with us."

"She's playing that festival we're doing in Wisconsin," Deacon replied.

"You think she'd talk to you?" Rayna asked.

Deacon shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I'm willing to give it a try."

* * *

Deacon and Rayna's bus pulled into the festival grounds as that night's show was beginning to wrap up. After kissing Rayna and leaving the girls playing around with a new song, he crossed over to the stage area where he could see Juliette up on stage playing her finale.

It was quite a show, with dancers and lights, but under it all, he could see that it wasn't really Juliette.

There had been rumblings in the trade publications that this tour wasn't playing like the rest. The crowds and tickets were good, and the reviews hadn't been bad, but more than one reviewer had commented that this was a very different Juliette.

And there had been a couple of missed shows, which was not Juliette at all. She'd never cancelled a show willingly in her life.

He flashed his badge to the backstage security and mounted the steps to the wings. He saw Jeff Fordham off to the left, so moved over near a couple of the roadies. He did not need to have that conversation.

Juliette finished the song, thanked the crowd and came off the stage, reaching for the towel and bottle of water that her assistant handed her.

"Nice show," he said as he walked up to her.

"Deacon," she replied slowly. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Well, I am," he responded. "You got a few minutes for an old friend?"

Juliette looked over at the stage, then back at him. "Well, I still owe them an encore. You can wait-or you can come out there with me."

Deacon smiled. "And do what?"

"Sing our song?" she offered.

"Undermine?"

"Sure. C'mon, Deacon Claybourne. You're still my friend, aren't you?" Juliette asked as she turned and headed toward the stage.

"Thanks, y'all! You've been awesome!" Juliette called out to the cheering crowd. "And I found a surprise backstage. Please welcome my friend, Deacon Claybourne!"

Deacon paused for a moment, then took the guitar the roadie was offering to him. He adjusted the strap slightly as he headed out onto stage. Juliette said a few words to her band leader who nodded and started playing the opening lines to _Undermine_.

 _Sometimes good intentions  
Don't come across so well_

 _Get me analyzing everything that_  
 _aint' worth thinking 'bout_  
 _Just cause I ain't lived through_  
 _The same hand that was dealt to you_  
 _Doesn't make me any less_  
 _Or make any more of you_

 _I wouldn't trade my best day_  
 _So you could validate_  
 _All your fears_

 _And if I've only got one shot_  
 _Won't waste it on a shadow box_  
 _I'll stand right here_

Deacon stepped up to the mic and joined in.

 _It's all talk, talk, talk  
Talkin' in the wind  
It only slows you down  
If you start listenin'  
And it's a whole lot harder to shine  
Than undermine  
Yeah, undermine  
_  
He watched her as she sang. As the song went on, it seemed like a variety of emotions crossed her face. He could see she was...had been...struggling.

 _It's a whole lot harder to shine  
Yeah, it's a whole lot harder to shine  
Than undermine  
Yeah, undermine_

Sometimes good intentions  
Don't come across so well

As he played the last chord, Juliette turned to her band leader and nodded.

"Okay, y'all...thanks for a great night!" she called out as Deacon shook his head at her. "Nah, Deacon, I know you know this one, so stay on up here with us!"

 _I had a broken heart and a broken heel  
_ _And a break down when those big old wheels  
_ _Left with him and left me in a cloud of deep old dust_

 _She was sitting there  
_ _With her beehive hair  
_ _And said, "Honey, that's a waste of good mascara."  
_ _She handed me a pink Kleenex  
_ _And I'll never forget what she said next,_

Deacon crossed to her microphone and joined her.

 _"Boys and buses got a lot in common  
They both pick up speed when you  
Try to stop 'em  
You could waste your breath  
You could scream and cuss 'em  
But there's no use chasing after boys and buses."_

Deacon looked over to see Maddie and Daphne standing near the edge of the stage. He smiled as Juliette finished the next verse and she indicated he should take the guitar solo. As much as he hated some of Juliette's more pop stuff, he loved riffing on this one.

As the song finished, Juliette reached for his hand and lifted it.

"Thanks, Wisconsin!"

They took a bow and then headed off stage.

"That was awesome!" Daphne cried as she ran up to them.

"Hey, girls," Juliette said as walked up to them. "Y'all enjoying your first big tour?"

"It's great," Maddie said. "Mom and Dad have been letting us do a couple songs each night."

"That's great," Juliette said, looking over at Deacon and smiling. "Say, I'd love to catch up with y'all, but I promised your dad something. Can we take a raincheck? Maybe when we all get back to Nashville?"

"Sure," the girls answered in unison.

"Hey, you tell your mom I'll be back in a while, okay?" Deacon asked.

Maddie and Daphne agreed and Deacon followed Juliette off stage toward her bus.

* * *

"So, you seem...man, Juliette, I don't know how you seem," Deacon finally said as they got to the bus.

She stopped and turned back to him. "C'mon, let's go in. Lots of ears around here."

Deacon took the bottle of water Juliette offered and sat down.

"How many more dates do you have?" he asked as she opened her own bottle and sat down across from him.

"Like twenty," she said, taking a drink. "I think we're done in a little over a month. Festival season, you know."

"Yep," he replied. "So…"

"So," she responded.

"You didn't return my calls," Deacon started. "I've been worried about you."

"I've been busy," Juliette started.

"C'mon, Juliette. We're friends and we've both spent a lot of years on the road. You weren't that busy. Why are you avoiding me?" Deacon asked.

Juliette looked over at him, suddenly looking more vulnerable than he'd seen her since her mom died.

"I guess I didn't know what to say," she replied. "I wasn't sure why you were calling, why you'd even want to talk to me after everything that happened with Rayna."

"Have you talked to Avery?" he asked, his voice quiet.

She shook her head.

"He loves you, Juliette and I know he's been worried."

"I'm not so sure anymore," she replied. "I think I messed that one up for good."

"You seem like you're doing better," Deacon said. "Is it a show or did you get some help?"

Juliette shrugged. "Luke made me go to a doctor, after I missed that second show. He's got me on an antidepressant."

Deacon reached across the table and put his hand on his arm. "Is it making you feel any better?"

Juliette nodded.

"Then why haven't you called Avery, gone home, seen him and the baby?"

Juliette shrugged again. "I guess I'm afraid of what he'll say."

Deacon shook his head. "You're never going to know if you don't give him a chance. What's your schedule after this?"

"I have the Indiana State fair in a couple of days," Juliette replied.

"Go home, Juliette-give him a chance, give yourself a chance," Deacon said. "Don't miss out on all of those years like I did. You never know what life might deal you. Don't waste it."

Juliette nodded, her eyes filling with tears.

"Okay, I have a hot new wife and a couple of kids who seem to think that every night is a party on that bus, so I've got to go, but do this for me-give your family another chance."

"Thank, Deacon," Juliette said quietly.

Deacon stood up, walked over and gave her a hug. He'd done what he could do.

* * *

"Okay...that makes sense...but can we...okay. I'll let Deacon know," Rayna was saying into the phone as Deacon climbed back on their bus.

"What will you let me know?" Deacon asked as she finished her call.

"Scarlett's sick. They're gonna cancel all three dates this weekend," Rayna said as she set the phone down. "I need to sign more artists so we're not cancelling dates like this."

"Is it that serious?" Deacon asked as he sat down on the couch next to her.

"She said it's the flu. Nothing too serious, but bad enough she doesn't want to travel and Gunnar backed her up."

"I should call her," Deacon said as he fished his phone out of his pocket.

"Wait til morning, babe. It's already after 11 pm," Rayna advised.

Deacon looked at his phone for a moment, then stuck it back in his pocket. "But Gunnar was with her?"

"Bucky said they had come back from the dates in Utah and he'd taken her to his house."

Deacon nodded.

"How as Juliette?" Rayna asked.

Deacon shrugged. "Better, I think. I told her to go home and talk to Avery. Luke did get her to go to a doctor, get her head taken care of."

"Good," Rayna responded. She shook her head. "I only want what's best for her. I mean, she's frustrating as hell, but I hate seeing them fight like this when the baby is so young."

"That's what I told her," Deacon replied. "I told her to fix it now before it got any worse."

* * *

Scarlett walked into Gunnar's house, dropped her banjo case and ran down the hall.

"Scar? You okay? You want me…" Gunnar stood in the living room, a guitar in one hand, a suitcase in the other. "Uh, I'm just gonna…"

"Wait there!" she called from the bathroom.

Gunnar walked over and got a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water from the fridge. A few minutes later, when Scarlett walked back out, he handed it to her.

"We gonna talk about this?" he asked.

She looked at him and sighed. "Guess we're gonna have to."

He walked over to the couch and she followed.

"So," he started.

"I'm pregnant," she answered.

"I kind of figured that out," he admitted. "I mean, at first I thought maybe it was the tuna on craft services, but it's getting pretty bad."

"Yeah," she responded, taking a sip of water from the glass.

"Have you seen a doctor?" he asked.

She nodded. "When we were in Salt Lake."

"And?"

"Well, I'm pregnant. And he said that the sickness should be getting better, but I just don't know if it's gonna," Scarlett admitted.

Gunnar was quiet for a moment. "Have you told Caleb?"

Scarlett shook her head. "No."

"Are you going to?"

"No," she answered. "Cause...cause it isn't his baby."

"Oh," Gunnar replied. "Oh!"

Scarlett looked over at him. "You gonna be okay with that? I mean, we haven't really talked, we've just kind of…"

Gunnar sat for a moment, then held his arms open. "Come here," he invited her. She scooted over on the couch into his arms. "Wow, so we're gonna have a baby."

* * *

As the pastor called them up for the baptism, Deacon adjusted the guitar one more time, then began to play.

 _Go, my children, with my blessing, never alone._

Maddie and Daphne joined in.

 _Waking, sleeping, I am with you, you are my own.  
_ _In my love's baptismal reiver I have made you mine forever.  
_ _Go, my children, with my blessing, you are my own._

He looked over at Juliette and Avery standing in the front pew, Cadence asleep in Avery's arms and smiled.

 _Go, my children, sins forgiven, at peace and pure.  
_ _Here you learned how much I love you, what I can cure.  
_ _Here you heard my dear Son's story, here you touched him, saw his glory.  
_ _Go, my children, sins forgiven, at peace and pure._

Scarlett reached down and took her mom's hand in hers, and smiled at her. Gunnar slipped his arm around Scarlett's waist.

 _Go, my children, fed and nourished, closer to me.  
_ _Grow in love and love by serving, joyful and free.  
_ _Here my Spirit's power filled you, here my tender comfort stilled you.  
_ _Go, my children, fed and nourished, joyful and free._

And then Rayna, her grand-niece and goddaughter in her arms, looked straight at him and smiled. Everything had been worth coming back for-he was a lucky man.

 _I the Lord will bless and keep you, and give you peace.  
_ _I the Lord will smile upon you, and give you peace.  
_ _I the Lord will be your Father, Savior, Comforter and Brother.  
_ _Go, my children, I will keep you, and give you peace._

FIN

A/N - The last song was "Go, My Children, with My Blessing" text by Jaroslav Vajda, music - Welsh folk tune.


End file.
